Tell Me What The Rain Knows
by AniuLonewolf
Summary: With Cheza kidnapped by Darcia, Kiba and the other wolves continue their journey to try and get her back and get to Paradise. But what happens when Toboe finds a wounded wolf in the forest, and what is the connection that she shares with Kiba?
1. Chapter 1

Tell Me What The Rain Knows

By AniuLonewolf

Chapter 1

o-o

The sun was setting behind the lush trees. And with the disappearance of the sunlight, she knew that the danger of the night would soon be upon her. Her body was broken, crimson red blood soaked her midnight black fur. The gash on her paw making her limp through the underbrush.

The scent of the ruling pack in this forest was strong and she knew it was only a matter of time before they would find her. And she knew in her wounded condition that she was in, she wouldn't be able to fight them off for long.

The sky started to get darker and the starts appeared, accompanying the silver moon. An unfamiliar shiver ran up and down the injured wolf's spine. She had never been a long wolf before. She had always been with her pack, with her family and friends by her side. But now she was alone, the family and friends of her pack killed by hunters.

Another shiver ran down her back when she picked up the sound of howling. The ruling pack of this forest was out and they where on the hunt. Looking around, her nose picked up the scent of other wolves. She thought that she would have a few minutes to be able to dart away but froze when she saw other golden eyes gleaming in the bushes. Growls came from the bushes and a few wolves emerged from the lush leaves of the foliage.

"And what the hell are you doing our forest?" One wolf said, the right hand man next to the alpha, raising his head high, showing him 'importance'.

She raised her eyebrow just a bit as she studied the wolf in front of her. He looked familiar somehow. Shaking her head a bit, she locked eyes with him. "I'm just passing through." The black wolf said, not blinking an eye or flinching. She knew that if she showed any signs of fear, she was doomed. "I'm not here to make any trouble so let me pass." She said calmly, taking a small step forward.

A slightly larger wolf slowly walked out from the leaves. She knew he was the alpha and lowered her head a bit, not wanting to appear like she was challenging him or anything. Two black wolves that were standing beside the leader growled, baring their fangs. "How dare you." The one on the right growled. "You have no right to come through our forest."

The leader, a big muscular dark brown alpha with a scar over his snout, suddenly turned and snapped at the one that just spoke, barely missing his neck. "Silence." He growled and all the wolves in the pack lowered their heads and tails.

The black wolf watched this and felt her heart beat speed up. What where they going to do with her? That question ran through her mind that whole time as she tried to act calm in front of the wolf pack. But for some reason, the leader looked so familiar somehow but she couldn't put her paw on it.

The alpha wolf looked back at her and she felt herself stiffen from the look in his eyes. The look alone in his eyes said it all and she knew that she was trouble.

Lust.

"What's a beautiful young lady doing out here all by herself in this dark, dangerous forest?" The leader said, walking up to her. "Wait a minute." He said and looked into her eyes. "We've met before haven't we? Yes, yes. I remember now." He chuckled, evilly. "Your father was that leader of the pack that was traveling around here wasn't he?" He asked.

Suddenly, it all came back to her in a fearful flood of flashbacks. Yes, he was right. She had met him before, a long time ago. Their packs had met up one time and he had tried to ask her father if he could become her mate. Both her and her father had turned down the offer and the leader had gotten angry, yelling as he left, a promise that he would get her no matter what.

She knew she had to get out of there. She was in danger. Her tongue went numb and she couldn't speak. She was so scared that she was frozen in place, watching the leader wolf walk in circles around her, obviously checking her out.

"You know..." The male said, swishing his bushy tail under her chin. "I've been looking for a female to be my mate and have my pups. I've searched high and low but I still never forgot your face." He said, brushing his tail over her black snout. "I found you again and now you're all alone. No daddy to protect you this time." He whispered in her ear, causing her to shiver uncontrollably.

That was it! She had to get out of there, now! She glanced around and saw that the pack was one step ahead of her and they had circled her, blocking her exit and only freedom.

"I'm sure you're a very strong female indeed. You were so head strong the last time we met, I'm sure you haven't changed." He continued. "You will bare me many strong pups."

"N-No." She said, gaining her voice again. "No!" She yelled and took off, away from the alpha male. She tried to get away and managed to jump between two members of the pack and took off into the forest. She couldn't stop running, not caring where she was going. As long as she was getting away from that pack.

She tried to run her fastest but her fresh wounds from humans slowed her down, not able to run at full speed. Turning, she looked over her shoulder and saw that the pack was right behind her, hot on her tail.

"Come on Trixie, come on back here and we can talk this out." The leader called out to her, using some nickname that he probably uses on other females that he tried to get.

Her nose never failed and she could smell the scent of lust coming from him. He was lying through his teeth and her nose picked it up.

She was trapped. She'd never been in this forest before and she didn't know where she was going.

It didn't matter, as long as she got away from that sick wolf and his pack. She kept running, her fresh wounds opening up more and slowing her down even more.

Trees and bushes flashed by her as she jumped rocks and logs. She tripped and gashed her hind leg. Trying to forget about the burning pain in her body, she pushed herself to run faster. She turned left, thinking she would lose them.

But it didn't. Instead she ran right into a dead end. Tall oak trees and giant boulders blocked her path and her way to freedom. Taking a few steps back, she lowered her head to try and catch her breath.

"I got you now, Trixie." The familiar voice called out from behind her.

'Shit.'

She thought to herself, snapping her head back up and turned around to face the pack once again. "Leave me alone." She growled. Her black ears flattened back against her skull and she bared her sharp white fangs in a fearsome snarl.

She watched, eyes darting every which way as the pack slowly advanced, circling around her. After the rest of the pack stopped moving, she kept her eyes on the alpha male. She wasn't going to back down now and let this guy use her. She was going to stand her ground and fight. Even if it killed her.

Suddenly, without warning the alpha male gave a silent command and the pack all of a sudden turned and attacked. The black wolf tried to run but her left paw stopped her from moving. Five large males jumped on her, snapping at her with their sharp teeth, gashing her even more.

She tried to fight them off. Her once soft silky black fur was matted and soaked in her crimson red blood. Her eyesight was starting to get blurry due to the amount of blood loss.

After a while the sharp pain faded from her body and shock soaked through her veins, making her body numb. Her legs gave way and she fell to the ground with a lifeless thud.

o-o-o-o

"Man, I'm starving." A chubby timber wolf moaned, lowering his head. A black collar-like necklace jingled as he jogged faster to keep up with the rest of his pack of five. "We haven't eaten in days." He sighed.

"Shut up and quit your belly aching." The sharp grey wolf snapped, glaring down at the timber wolf. The silver wolf was covered in little scars all over his body from all the fights he had been in but the one that stuck out the most was the 'X' shaped scar across his chest.

"Kiba, can we stop for a little while to rest." A red wolf pup asked, hanging his head low to the ground. "My paws are killing me." He said, looking down at his paws, one had four silver bracelets on and whenever he took a step, jingled happily.

The only female of the pack, walking beside the timber wolf, her head also hanging low to the sand and her dry tongue lulled out the side of her mouth. Her dark, midnight fur stood out in the sandy brown of the dry dirt. Her sea blue eyes were half open as the dying heat of the sun beat down on her back.

The five wolves continued on, their leader not giving an answer just yet. The chubby timber wolf was Hige, a fun wolf with a happy-go-lucky attitude. Beside him was Blue, a black dog-wolf cross who joined them just a little while ago. The sharp grey wolf was Tsume, a rouge, loner type who found himself traveling with the others. The youngest was Toboe, a caring individual who was raised by a human when he was just a pup. The leader of the small pack was a snow white wolf named Kiba who had traveled into the city and that was when he had met the others.

"We'll stop in a little while." Was all the pure white wolf said, as he continued on, walking in the sand dunes of the desert.

"That's the seventh time you've said that." The grey wolf, Tsume growled at the white wolf who was Kiba.

"Yes, I know but I smell water just up ahead." Kiba said without turning to face his pack.

The red wolf, Toboe and the timber wolf, Hige suddenly found some hidden energy and took off in a mad dash to try and get to the water as fast as they would, Kiba, Tsume and Blue following after them.

When they finally made it to the forest, they walked down what seemed to be a cleared out path that was made by someone or something. They continued anyway, looking around at the different trees and plants that grew around them as they followed their noses to try and locate the water that their dried throats needed so much.

"Hey!" Hige called out to the others. "I found a spring!"

At the sound of found water, Kiba, Toboe, Blue and Tsume dashed over to where the timber wolf was. There, right ahead of them was a beautiful spring, swimming with fish and crystal clear.

All five wolves walked up the crystal clear water and one by one, lowered their heads to take a long, needed drink of water. The cold water felt so good, trickling down their dry throats.

After the long needed drink, the five decided to take a break from traveling and they were to stay and rest in the forest for a couple days.

Tsume and Hige started a competition to see who could catch the most fish. Tsume was winning by a long shot. Their shares piled up quickly until Blue said that time was up and they were going to use the caught fish for supper that night.

Toboe went exploring, saying that he would be back by night fall, which was in a couple hours. The young red wolf walked all over, exploring all he could before the sun set. Just before he was going to turn back, he caught the scent of blood and saw tracks of other wolves in the dirt and followed them.

Following the tracks, he saw that they were wolf prints in the mud and that was blood with the one set of tracks. An injured wolf was being chased by a pack of its own kind?

Interested, Toboe continued to follow the track until he came to another clearing with a dead end, surrounded by tall rocks and huge oak trees. The tracks had stopped and there was blood everywhere and three lifeless wolf bodies on the ground.

The red wolf slowly walked up to the others of his kind, afraid that they were going to suddenly spring to life as mindless zombies.

"Come on Toboe, pull yourself together." The red-brown furred pup laughed at his own thoughts.

The two wolves looked to both be male, both a chocolate brown colour and covered in blood. From the look of their wounds, Toboe came to the conclusion that they were killed by being kitten in the jugular.

The other wolf was a midnight black. Judging from her slender frame, Toboe guessed that she was a female. Save for her entire body covered in a thick coat of black fur, she had deep wounds all over her body, the midnight black stained deep crimson red.

Toboe was captivated by the female's beauty. He walked closer to her, studying her face when suddenly, from the corner of his eye, he saw her move. Just a flick of her tail. Staying still, he watched her very closely. A minute went by and he saw her chest slowly rise and fall. She was alive!

Nuzzling her snout, he tried to wake her up. "Hey." He whined, not really knowing what to say. "A-Are you ok?"

"Do I look like I'm ok?" She whispered, her throat sore. Her eyes opened and looked around, her vision blurry. "Who are you?" She asked, trying to get up but failed. Trying again, she got up on her front legs, too weak, sitting up but her energy was drained quickly and was about to fall to the ground when Toboe caught her, using his head and neck to keep her up.

"Why are you here?" She asked, looking down at him. Why was this guy -a complete stranger- helping her?

"I saw your tracks." Toboe explained. "Where you the one who was being chased?" He asked.

The wide, scared look in her eyes answered his question and she pushed off of his back, trying to get away. Of course, with her severe injuries, it wasn't that easy.

"Where are you going?" Toboe asked, following her, walking beside her, making sure that she didn't fall. "I'm not here to cause any problems. I just want to help you."

"Why?" She suddenly snapped, turning to face him with a snarl. "Do you want to trick me into trusting you and then use me?" She snarled, baring her fangs.

"N-No, it's nothing like that." Toboe stuttered, shocked that she would think such a thing. "I just want to help you because I want to." He tried to explain without giving her any kind of wrong idea. He just wanted to help a fellow wolf. "Why did you ask me that?" He asked, curiously.

The black wolf's snarl got louder and instead of getting in his face, she stepped back and lowered her head. "That's what they tried to do to me last night." She whimpered. "They tried to... to..."

"It's ok, you don't need to say." He said and felt his heart go out to her. She was only around his age, just a 'teenager' wolf. Taking a small step closer to her, he nuzzled her neck, giving her a comforting hug because he felt so sorry for her.

"What are you doing?" She asked, surprised that he was doing that.

"I feel sorry for you." Toboe smiled and then an idea came to him. "Why don't you come back with me? My friends and I are resting here for a while and if you come with me, I could help you bandage those wounds up." The red wolf suggested, wagging his tail, showing that he was a friend.

"You're not fooling me here, are you?" The black wolf asked, raising an eyebrow. Toboe could see that her body was tense and ready to spring away.

"I promise on my life, I'm not lying." Toboe said, every word coming from his heart. "If you come with me, I can help you."

After a few minutes of thinking, the black wolf finally agreed to go with the red wolf. They walked down the path, leaving the other dead wolves in the clearing.

"So..." Toboe sighed, trying to make a conversation between them. "... you never told me your name."

"My name is Sakuya." The said black wolf said, limping down the path beside the red wolf. Turning to him, she gave a small smile. "What's your name?"

"Toboe's the name." The said young wolf smiled. "Sakuya's a pretty name, I like it." He offered her another smile.

"Can I ask you another question?" Sakuya asked politely and nervously. At the nod of Toboe's head for a yes, she looked down at his paws. "Why do you have those silver rings on your paw?"

Looking down at his questioned paw, Toboe smiled sadly as he watched the four bracelets jingle as he stepped. "When I was just a pup, an old lady took care of me." He explained. "She gave me these bracelets just before she died."

Sakuya's snout wrinkled with confusion. "A human took care of you?" She asked. That must have been the worst thing ever, being with a human. She had to do a double take to make sure that she was actually hearing this right.

Toboe nodded is head again, keeping his eyes on his silver bracelets. "She was very kind to me and loved me."

"But she was a human." Sakuya said, trying to hold in her snarl. "Humans did this to us in the first place. Because of them, we are forced to live in the shadows and try to live. They think that we've been extinct for almost two hundred years. Some wolves have even tried to like among humans by turning into humans and blending in with them."

"That's what me and my friends have done." Toboe said, lowering his head. "We've tried to blend in with them but in the end we were found out and now we're being hunted down by a man."

"You disguise yourselves as humans?" She asked. A nod of the red wolf's head made her growl. "That's low. Have you no pride as a wolf?" She asked and turned away and tried to talk again but ended up falling to the ground with an angry snarl.

Toboe gasped and ran to her side, helping her up." Are you ok?" He asked.

"No." She murmured, trying to get up but she didn't have enough energy or strength. She was too tired.

"Here. Get on my back." The young red wolf said, laying down beside her.

Listening to his command, Sakuya slowly crawled over and got on his back, her head resting on his neck. Toboe slowly got up, keeping his balance and making sure that she was secure. Seeing that she was ok, he continued to talk down the path.

While he was walking down the path, Toboe could sense that Sakuya was angry. A sigh escaped his lips and he slowed down his pace a bit. He looked from the corner of his eye and saw that Sakuya had her eyes closed.

"We do have much pride as wolves but we don't want to be killed either." He tried to explain. "We only disguise ourselves as humans so we can try and find Cheza and get to Paradise where wolves can live freely again."

* * *

Wolf's Rain © Bones Studio

Tell Me What The Rain Knows by AniuLonewolf


	2. Chapter 2

Tell Me What The Rain Knows

By AniuLonewolf

Chapter 2

o-o

It was past sundown and the four wolves were starting to get worried that Toboe was in trouble. He had said that he was going to be back before sun down and it was already was past sunset.

There was a snap of a twig and the four wolves were turned to where the sound came from and were about to attack when they saw that it was Toboe.

"Where the hell..." Tsume was about to snap when he saw that Toboe had another wolf with him, on his back. "Who's this?" He asked instead.

"I was looking around and found her and two other wolves in a clearing. The two wolves were dead but this this one here," Toboe explained, motioning up to the sleeping wolf on his back, "she was attacked by another wolf pack and she has really bad wounds."

"Bring her over here." Kiba said, walking closer to the two wolves into his human form. Black shaggy, shoulder length hair, bright blue eyes and was dressed in blue jeans, white shirt with black jacket.

Sliding her off his back, Toboe turned into his human form too, a seventeen year old-looking boy with shoulder length red-brown hair with the four bracelets still on his right hand. Dressed in dark green pants and red shirt, he carried Sakuya over to the fire that Kiba and Tsume had made.

The said grey wolf also changed into his human form, short silver-grey hair with a ponytail, two earrings in his left ear and one on the right and wearing tight leather pants and a leather jacket that had torn sleeves and showed his 'X' scar on his chest.

Blue was the next to change, black jacket and skirt with black knee-high boots and a red neckerchief. Her bright blue eyes shown in the night light and her short black hair played in the evening wind.

Hige was the last to change. Short shaggy dark brown hair, brown eyes and dressed in blue jeans and yellow pullover with a black long sleeved shirt underneath, he still had his black collar on only now it was super big.

Toboe laid the injured black wolf down beside the fire and he, Kiba and Blue started to search for some herbs that they would use to clean the wounds. They found some around the stream and got to work dressing the wounds.

"Where did you find her?" Blue asked, examining the wolf's left paw. "She's so beat up."

"I don't exactly know but she was cornered by a wolf pack." Toboe said, wrapping her other paw, making sure that it was good and tight. "She said that the leader of the pack tried to use her." He said and everyone knew what he meant.

"That's horrible." Blue growled, looking down at Sakuya with pity in her eyes.

Kiba suddenly was overcome with both pity and anger. What would a wolf pack do that? Wolves are loyal and they stay by their mate forever and longer. Why would some leader male want to just use a female? What changed wolves to think this way? The thought made him shiver with anger.

After cleaning up the female's wounds, the five other wolves decided to go to sleep, taking turns on watch duty. Blue rested beside Hige laying down beside him and placed one of her paws over his.

The said timber wolf looked up from his head on his paws and locked golden eyes with blue eyes. "You ok?" he asked, seeing a strange look in her eyes.

"I'm fine, just a bit tired." The black wolf said, offering a small smiled.

"You thinking about the old man again?" Hige asked, talking about Blue's old master, Quent.

Before Blue met the others, she lived with an old wolf hunter named Quent who hunted down any remaining wolves and kill them for his revenge. Blue's human family, Quent's wife and son were killed in a fire and he saw wolves around their bodies to he thought that the wolves had done it.

Quent and Blue had ran into the four wolves a couple times but one night, when Quent was in a bar drinking, Blue was outside and saw Kiba and the others walk by, with a girl. Cheza.

The girl born from a lunar flower had walked up to Blue and told her that she was part wolf. That was when Blue finally found out what she really was and she broke free from her collar and joined up with the pack, traveling with them to try and save Cheza and open Paradise; a world that calls out to wolves.

She didn't want to go back to Quent because now that she found out that she was half wolf, she didn't know what he would do to her and she didn't want to go back to him because she would end up just chasing after Hige and the others like before.

"Yeah, I am." Blue said, looking down at the ground. "I wonder where he is."

"I'm sure he's fine." Hige said, trying to comfort her a bit.

A snap of a twig caused both wolves to turn to see Toboe standing there, beside the sleeping newcomer wolf. "Sorry." He whispered, "I didn't mean to interrupt." He bowed his head a bit and laid down beside the injured black wolf and soon fell asleep.

Hige smiled at the young red wolf and then turned to Blue, wanting to hear the rest of what she was going to say. But all he got was a little shake of the head, saying that she'll tell him later and that she was too tired to stay up any more.

Nodding in agreement, Hige and Blue both laid down again, Blue resting her head on her midnight black paws and Hige rested his head over Blue's neck.

While the two slept peacefully, Tsume was on watch guard, up on a hill overlooking the clearing. Sakuya and Toboe were fast asleep and Kiba was sleeping a little ways away from the fire, twitching and squirming as he dreamt.

Hot, red tongues of fire licked its way through the den as two helpless whimpering forms crawled around blindly, trying to find their mother.

Suddenly, a big black form came running into the burning den and picked up one of the two pups and ran out again, leaving the white pup, still crawling around, searching for help.

This time a white form came in and picked up the newborn by the scruff of his neck and hurried him out of the den and into the bright light of the outside world. But he wasn't safe yet, the whole forest was on fire, the hot tongues licking and eating away the trees and melting snow.

Big snow white paws kicked off the snow as Kiba watched the white wolf with a leather collar around her neck ran into the forest with her son's fur clenched between her teeth as she seemed to be looking for someone.

Shots of gunfire where heard, exploding overhead. The white wolf mother looked around more frantically and saw the black figure standing up on a hill, holding the other baby pup in his teeth. The black wolf was as black as the midnight sky with no moon and also had a leather collar around his neck.

The shots were heard again and her black tipped white ears flattened to her skull as the mother said her silent, final goodbye to both her mate and her daughter. She knew that would never see both of them again.

As the shots got louder, the black wolf took off into the forest, carrying the little girl with him. Never to see her mother again.

The sound of dog barks and howls got louder and soon the snow white female heard the shouts of humans and she took off, into the deep of the forest to try and save her son.

Kiba watched her run deeper into the forest and he knew what was going to happen next and it wrenched his heart. He watched her from up on a hill as she neared a village but he knew that it was too late.

Kiba watched this happen, eyes wide as he looked closer at the white wolf with sunset golden eyes. Then it dawned on him; the female wolf was his own mother. Than that meant that the little pup was her son... the pup was him when he was only a month or two old. He was dreaming but also reliving his past and what had happened to his mother.

Turning to look behind her, she saw that the hunters and their hounds were right behind her. She turned to look ahead and knew that if she got to the village, her son would be safe.

Almost there. She was almost to the safety of the village. Kiba tried to call out to his mother but it didn't reach her for his voice wouldn't work.

One shot and then another blasted thought the air. A loud, painful yelp rang out in the air as he watched his mother that he never knew, fall to the ground with a lifeless thud and watched as the pure white snow around her body soaked up the red liquid that was her blood.

Kiba watched from the hill as a few tribal people heard the gunfire and came out to see the dead mother with a whimpering pup laying beside her. Kiba watched as the leader of the tribe picked up the pup that was him, and took him inside to the warmth and safety of his family's hut.

'No! No!' He wanted to yell as he kicked off and ran down the hill. He had to get to his mother before the hunters got to her. He had to save her. Flashbacks of his life growing up in that village flipped through his mind like a movie. He had always felt so empty because he never knew his mother. He never knew anyone of his pack.

"NO!" He yelled out at his almost got to his fallen mother but it was too late...

Golden sun eyes snapped open and Kiba woke up from his memory-dream, panting heavily. He had never had that kind of dream before, never knowing that that was what really happened.

Looking around, the campsite, the white furred leader saw that everyone else was asleep, no one on guard duty. Since he wouldn't be able to go to sleep again anyway, he sat up and took duty of watch. He eyes gazed over at the fire and he watched the burning wonder eat away at the logs, turning them black.

Gazing up at the sky, he watched the stars twinkle happily above with the moon hidden behind the clouds. Everything was quiet until the new wolf, Sakuya, jolted awake with a yelp, not waking up Toboe but making Kiba turn to her.

"Are you alright?" Kiba asked, slowly getting up and walking over to her.

"Huh!" The said black wolf gasped, looking up at the white wolf. "Oh. Sorry." She whispered, looking down at the ground. "Bad dream." She looked around and saw Toboe sleeping beside her. She then looked back up at Kiba. "Where am I?"

A smile appeared on the white wolf's face. "Toboe brought you back here so we could clean up your wounds. I'm Kiba." He introduced himself.

"I'm Sakuya." She said with a fraction of a nod of her head. But then something caught her attention; she had heard that name 'Kiba' before... but where?

"What was your dream about?" Kiba asked, walking over to her. He sat down beside her, on the other side of the sleeping Toboe.

For some reason, Sakuya didn't seem jolted by his question. The look in his eyes showed her that she could trust him. "It was like I was reliving a memory from when I was very little." She explained, looking over her body, seeing that bandages covered almost her entire body. "A fire in..."

"...the den?" Kiba finished, staring at the female in front of him.

Wide eyes stared up and locked eyes with Kiba's "Yes." She whispered, shocked that he knew that. "That's what happened."

"And then someone came to get you out of the burning den and took you out outside into the burning forest?" Kiba questioned, getting very interested in this new wolf.

"Yes! Yes! That's exactly what happened." Sakuya gasped, jumping up onto her feet, which were still weak and trying to ignore the burning pain that rippled through her muscles. "How did you know that?"

"I had the same dream." Kiba answered, now staring up at the moon. "Only it was showing my mother and me as a pup, trying to get away from hunter. I did see another, black wolf with a other pup but we were separated."

"That's like my dream too." Sakuya said, sitting down beside Toboe. "Only I was with my father and I also saw a white female with a pup with her."

"How can this be? Were we dreaming about our past? Were we apart of each other's past?" Kiba asked. What did this all mean? He felt some sort of connection with Sakuya. Some kind of feeling that he had seen her before, that he had known her before.

"I have no clue." Sakuya said, looking down at Toboe who murmured something in his sleep. "I feel a connection with you though. Do you feel it?"

"I do." Was all he said and then there was silence between them for a while. All questions were running thought his head, trying to fit together a puzzle that only had half the pieces. He then turned to her after the silence and spoke. "What happened to you when you were a pup?" He asked, locking golden eyes with golden-blue eyes that were Sakuya's. "What was your life like?"

Again, Sakuya knew that she could trust him and felt that she could speak openly with the white wolf in front of her.

"My father and I lived in a pack; my father the alpha." Sakuya started, suddenly getting a sad look on her face. "He told me that when I was young my mother was killed by humans and he never wanted another mate. He loved my mother with all his being and was alone for the rest of his life." She explained.

"Did you ever know your mother?" Kiba asked.

A shake of her head answered his question with a sad 'no'. "My father told me that we were separated when hunters attacked our den." She said. "Just like the dream I had just now."

"I never knew my father or my mother." Kiba said. "But in my dream it was my mother who saved me from the fire. But she was killed by the hunters and that's how I was taken in my the nearby village that she was trying to get to." He said, thinking about the weird dreams.

"But I just don't get it." Sakuya said, hopping over to the stream to get a drink. "How could we have the same dream?'

They thought about the problem deep into the night and shared stories of their past. Kiba then explained to Sakuya about their quest to find Cheza, the Flower Maiden and to find Paradise, where all wolves are called to.

It turned out that Sakuya's pack was traveling to try and find Paradise. Her father would talk about how the land would be where wolves would be at peace, away from humans were they would be happy and free. But that was when her pack was hunted down by the hunters and were killed, leaving Sakuya to fend for herself. At that point, Kiba offered Sakuya to come with them and black wolf agreed to join the pack, saying that for some reason, it felt as if it was her destiny to be with Kiba and the others.

o-o-o-o

The rays of the morning sun filled the forest with a warm glow and slowing woke the sleeping wolves from their slumber.

Bright brown eyes opened slowly as Toboe woke up and stretched. Walking over to the stream to get a drink, he saw that Tsume was already awake, just sitting by the fire. Hige was in the water catching some fish for breakfast while Blue watched from the edge of the water keeping an eye on the fish that he had caught.

"Good morning." A voice came from behind him and Toboe turned around to see Sakuya, standing there, smiling brightly.

"Hey! How are you today?" Toboe smiled back, walking up to her. "You look a lot better."

"Thanks. I do feel better than yesterday." Sakuya said looking down at her paws seeing the wrap still around her left paw, the white bandages standing out on her black fur.

"Breakfast is ready." Blue called and everyone headed towards the fire.

Everyone headed to the fire a and took a seat and formed a circle. Sakuya sat beside Toboe with a smile on her face when it suddenly faded when she saw the wolves that were in front of her as their disguises. As humans. Her body stiffened, scared of what was happening. She hated humans and she thought that it was disgraceful that wolves had to stoop so low as to survive by blending in with humans.

But when she looked around the circle, she saw that all of her friends had smiles on their faces, showing that they were still her friends. After thinking it over, her smile came back, showing that she was ok. She closed her eyes and turned into a human. Long black hair that reached her shoulders, golden-blue eyes still sparkled and she was dressed in blue jeans and had a white tank top on with a light blue jacket.

Looking around again, she was met with smiles again and she smiled back and at down beside Toboe who handed her a cooked fish. They all ate, telling a little about each other and getting to know Sakuya a bit better. That was when both her and Kiba told the others about the dreams and they all tried to figure it out.

But Sakuya didn't care about it right now. She was among friends and she was happy as could be.

* * *

Wolf's Rain © Bones Studio

Tell Me What The Rain Knows by AniuLonewolf


	3. Chapter 3

Tell Me What The Rain Knows

By AniuLonewolf

Chapter 3

o-o

After breakfast, Sakuya's wounds were healed up enough for her to travel and the pack headed of again. They left the forest and continued through the desert. It seemed as thought the forest that they just left was just a little lush island, surrounded by a sea of sand. While they were traveling through the desert, a giant sand storm kicked up, slowing down their pace.

"Where are we going?" Hige asked, walking beside Blue, shielding his eyes from the sand that was whipping around. "Do you have any idea as to where Cheza would be?" He asked.

"There's another dome up ahead. I feel her presence there." Kiba said, leading the pack at the front. "We should be there by tomorrow."

Sakuya, who was walking beside Toboe, tuned into the conversation. "Before he was killed, my father was taking us to Freeze City." She said, trying to help out.

Tsume was walking behind Kiba, quiet as usual and he head bowed, trying to keep the sand out of his face. When Sakuya spoke, he lifted his head and turned to look at her. "That's were we came from." He explained. "Darcia, a noble, stole Cheza from there and we are heading to his castle."

Sakuya locked eyes with Tsume for a moment and then bowed her said, murmuring an 'oh'. After that, she was quiet the rest of the trip and just kept her eyes wandering from each wolf.

The six wolves continued walking through the night and picked up their pace when the sand storm settled down. They made it to the dome by morning and entered in, disguised as humans to blend in.

As they walked down the street, Sakuya looked around all over. All of this was new to her, she'd never been in a city before. New scents filled her nose and she felt like she wanted to touch everything. Before she was alone, her pack would always stay away from humans and lived in the wild of the forests that has managed to survive the harsh elements. She looked down the alleys as they continued down the main road.

When she looked down one alleyway, she suddenly froze and locked eyes with another pair of golden eyes. She tried to move but she was frozen in spot with fear. She knew those eyes.

"Hello Trixie." Was all the other wolf said as he walked out of the shadows, his scar over his snout becoming visible.

"Y-You." She whispered as her heart stopped for a second and her blood ran cold. "What the hell are you doing here?" She growled.

"I followed you." He simply said. "I'm not going to give up on you that easily." He was covered in many gashes from the battle from two nights ago. His brown coat of fur was matted with dry blood and his left eye was closed with a healing gash that was going to leave a scar.

Finally able to move her feet, Sakuya made a mad dash to catch up with Toboe and the others. She stopped running and walked beside Toboe, looking behind her every once and a while. She knew he was following her, she saw his shadow run from alley to alley, always staying one street away from her. But she knew he was doing that until he thought the time was right.

Toboe and Blue both noticed her actions. The golden-blue eyed girl seemed rather jumpy all of a sudden. Blue and Toboe looked at each other and then back at Sakuya. Blue was the first to speak up.

"Are you ok?" She asked.

Golden-blue eyes looked up at dark blue eyes that were Blue's. "Huh?" She asked and turned to look behind her again. "Oh, yeah I'm ok."

"Are you sure?" Hige asked, now getting interested in what was going on. "You seem jumping all of a sudden."

"I-I'm fine." Sakuya said and showed a small smile, to try and convince them that she was ok. Looking to her right again, she saw the brown wolf lurking behind her, in the shadows with an evil grin on his face. She tried to hide her fear as she turned around again and showed another smile.

With that smile, Blue and Hige turned around again and they continued walking. Toboe stayed beside Sakuya, watching her from the corner of his eye, seeing her look behind her every minute or so. A twig snapped behind them and she squeaked a bit and grabbed onto Toboe's arm in fear.

Kiba sensed that Sakuya was scared and was about to say something when Tsume beat him to it.

"We're being followed." He growled, looking up at the rooftops and seeing shadows move above them.

"They're here." Sakuya whispered, not letting go of Toboe's arm. A shiver ran up and down her spine, the same fear that ran through her when she was being chased in the forest.

"Who's here?" Toboe asked, placing a hand on Sakuya's shaking hand. "Someone's after you?"

The group stopped walking and looked at Sakuya for answers. Someone or something was following them an it seemed like the new girl knew something about what was going on. Five sets of eyes locked on her as she gulped down a lump that was forming in her throat, making it difficult to breath.

"It's the pack that was chasing me before." Sakuya said, looking down at the ground. "I ran into the leader just now, in an alley." She shot her head up again and the others saw tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "He's after me again."

As if on a cue, a brown wolf jumped down from the roof and landed in front of the group, his fangs barred and ready to fight. In the sunlight, he looked even worse than what Sakuya saw from in the shadows. Gashes all over his body from what her fangs did to his flesh and dried up blood made his fur all matted together in clumps.

People who were walking down the street saw the wolf and they all did a double take. From the rumours that they've all heard of wolves being the bringers of death, everyone panicked and ran away from the four legged 'devils' in a screaming terror. People ran into stores and the shopkeepers locked all the doors and shut the windows. Everyone ran away until it was only the wolves left on that street.

Kiba, Tsume and Hige whipped around, facing the wolf and getting ready for a fight. Blue and Toboe stayed behind them and made sure that Sakuya was ok. The said black haired girl was shaking with fear and holding onto Toboe for dear life, her hands gripping onto his shirt.

She was trembling with fear, a feeling she had only experienced few times in her life. But she was with friends now and she had faith in them and she knew that they would protect her. It was then that she realized that she had her arms wrapped around Toboe's waist and her face pressed against his chest. Even in this fearsome moment, she couldn't help but blush. She had just met him and here she was clinging to him.

Sakuya was about to pull away from Toboe when she felt his arms circle around her, wrapping around her waist. He was hugging her back. Golden-blue eyes looked up at the red-brown haired boy and she couldn't help but smile at his actions.

"It's ok Sakuya, we'll protect you." He said, hugging her closer to him. "I'll protect you."

Sakuya's eyes widened. He was going to protect her? She offered him a small, scared smile and rested her head back on his chest, glaring over at the leader.

"So Trixie, you found some bodyguards?" The alpha male growled at the three other males in front of him, blocking his target. "They won't last long."

Sakuya watched as the leader's golden eyes moved up to glare at Toboe. She heard a deep, threatening growl come from his throat and she knew that he was pissed. 'Well, too bad you bastard.' Her mind yelled. 'I'm with Toboe.' After she ran that last thought again through her mind, she blushed an even deeper red.

Kiba was the first to jump at the brown wolf. His fangs were barred and a loud fearsome growl came from deep in his chest. From any human's eyes, it would have looked like a human was fighting with a wolf but from the other's eyes, they watched as two adult male wolves bite at each other in a fury of fur.

Suddenly, five more wolves jumped down from the roof tops and joined in the battle. Kiba, Tsume and Hige were now taking two enemy wolves each and they looked as they were in a bit of a jam to say the least. The two wolves that Hige were battling were fighting as a team, one attacked right after the other and the timber wolf couldn't keep up with their fast attacks.

Tsume seemed to be on top of things. He had jumped up onto a pile of boxes and when the two were going to jump at him, he kicked the boxes and they went tumbling down, trapping the two enemies underneath the mountain of cardboard.

Kiba already taken out the first wolf, body slamming him again a nearby wall and was concentrating on the leader who was very fast at dodging the white wolf's attacks.

o-o-o-o

Meanwhile, on a calmer street, an old groggy looking man in a light brown trench coat was walking down the street, following the flow of people. Keeping his thoughts to himself, he looked up at the sky and wished he was near a bar so he could get a drink.

The silence was broken when everyone on that street heard screaming and what sounded like dogs barking. The old man, tilted his hat upward and saw a rush of people running pass him and others, screaming something about wolves.

That was all he needed. With the sound of wolves in the area, the man raced off, heading from the direction of where those screaming people came from. His rifle ready at hand.

Wolves. That one word made his blood boil. Clutching his rifle tighter he closed his eyes for a split second and all those nightmare memories came flooding back.

His life wasn't all about hunting and drinking. He once had a pretty wonderful life with a wonderful wife and son. And can't forget Blue. His son had found Blue when she was just a pup and fought with his father for hours, wanting to keep her. In the end his father agreed and Blue was then apart of the family.

But he knew that there was something different about the dog. That she wasn't just a dog. He had brought it up many a time but always suppressed it within his mind. She was family and they were one big loving family.

Until that one frightful night when the fire happened.

All he could remember of that night was watching his house burn to the ground with his beloved wife and son trapped inside. He had tried to get in the burning building but couldn't and watched helplessly as his life went up in flames.

Then, those monsters appeared and he remembered them hovering over his wife and son's bodies. Wolves were the cause for his life to be hell. It was the wolves' fault.

From then on, he vowed to hunt down any wolves that were still alive. Of course, everyone laughed when he would tell them that story, saying that wolves have been extinct for almost two hundred years but he just passed them off as stupid morons who were blind.

He knew that there were wolves still among them. After all, wolves were the ones who gave birth to man so what said that they weren't smart enough to come up with a way to hide among men themselves. That's what he believed and that's what he stood by.

Everyone knew the rumour of Paradise, the land which calls out to wolves when the world is about to die. The rumours that were spread around said that is was a peaceful land that was dominated by wolves. All he would say to that was that it was complete bullshit and that he would rather burn in the pits of hell than live in a wolf world.

Of course, people believed that wolves were the messengers of God, the creatures that were born from God and that humans were born from wolves. All he would say to that was that wolves were the bringers of death, not life.

He raced down the street, new anger found within him.

o-o-o-o

With Hige now knocked out from three wolves ganging up on him, Blue joined in the fight to protect Hige from getting hurt any more. Tsume and Kiba had taken care of the other wolves and were fighting together against the leader.

All Sakuya could do was watch as she lost all feeling in her body. All she could do was hold onto Toboe and watch as her new friends were being attacked, bleeding from all the gashes that were torn upon their flesh.

Tears streamed down her cheeks as she watched Tsume fall to the ground, too tired to fight any more. The other wolves, the leader's followers were about to turn on the grey wolf when something inside of her heart snapped and the black wolf tore away from Toboe's arms and attacked the nearest one, clamping down on the wolf's neck, holding onto his fur and flesh with all her might.

Toboe soon joined in after and it was an all out fight with fangs barred and neither pack was going to give up. Toboe and Sakuya worked as a team and soon took care of the three wolves that were attacking Tsume. The gray wolf was helped to his feet and joined the fight again. Blue and Hige were back to back with Toboe and Tsume, fighting off the members of the other pack while Kiba and Sakuya teamed up and went after the alpha male.

Even though he was tired and bleeding from all wounds, new and old, the brown wolf would not give up. He raised his head and tail high, trying to show that he was better to the two wolves.

"Come on Trixie, why put up a fight?" The brown wolf panted. "You and your 'pack' are tired and about to die. No sense in fighting a lost battle." Still panting, he tried to get his breathing under control and let out a loud snarl.

"Piss off." Sakuya snarled back, also trying to get her breathing level. After a moment of catching her breath, her and Kiba jumped after the brown wolf again, white fangs barred and ears flattened against their skulls.

Kiba turned to the right, his plan working and the brown wolf turned his attention on him. Kicking off the ground, the white wolf jumped into the air and landing behind the enemy, clamping his fangs into the brown wolf's hip, digging into the flesh as far as he could with his teeth.

Sakuya took the opportunity and also jumped into the air but she twisted in the air and landed on the male's back, also using her teeth and digging into the plump flesh of his neck, trying to cut off his air supply. It was working and the two worked as a team, not loosening their grip until the alpha took his last breath and fell to the ground with a loud, lifeless thud.

As soon as the brown leader fell to the ground, the fight fell silent. Not a move came from the opposing pack. They watched, eyes wide as their once strong leader took his last breath. They seemed to be shocked that their leader was defeated.

When the enemy fell silent, Tsume, Blue, Hige and Toboe backed off a bit as they tried to catch their breath. Even though the fight seemed to be over, they kept their eyes on the pack of brown wolves, ready to spring back into action at the slightest wrong move.

Kiba backed off from the dead brown wolf. He held his bloody arm with his other hand and sighed as he watched Sakuya circle around the body of the leader. His jeans, jacket and shirt were ripped and torn, covered in blood from both his wounds and the blood of the dead leader.

Tsume, Blue, Hige and Toboe all let out tired sighs at the same time. All of their clothes were torn and blood trickled down from their fresh wounds. The other wolves, mostly all dark brown furred slowly, one by one backed away. Without their leader, they had no intention of fighting anymore.

There were no words spoken between the two wolf packs for what seemed like forever. The air was so thick that it seemed like none of the wolves were breathing and as if the world had frozen still.

The only sound that was heard was a deep growl that was still coming from Sakuya. The black wolf was still hovering over the dead wolf's body. Blood was running down her back and legs from her deep wounds and her breathing was deep and shallow. Blood trickled down her tongue, a cut in her mouth making her taste the coppery taste. She had one paw pressed against his throat, trying to see if he still had a pulse.

There wasn't. He was really dead.

Toboe walked up to Sakuya and placed a hand on her shoulder. The golden-blue eyed girl looked up at the red haired boy and suddenly turned and flung her arms around his waist and buried her face in his shirt and started to cry. She was finally free from worrying about that wolf.

Toboe was a bit shocked that she had thrown herself on him so suddenly but wrapped his arms around her waist, hugging her back and giving her a comforting hug, whispering to her that it was ok.

Two wolves from the other pack, two females, stepped up from the other seven. They were the only of the brown wolves with different fur colour; both a light, sandy brown colour with green eyes and a darker coloured brown on their muzzles. Kiba and the others concluded that they were twins, both looking the same in appearance. The only way you could tell them apart when in their wolf form was that one had dark brown on the backs of her ears.

In their human forms, one of the two had her long blond hair pulled up into a messy bun while the other had hers pulled up into a long high ponytail. As well as only being able to tell them apart by the colours of their ears, the twins each had a bracelet on their left hands, having a star charm while the other had a moon charm.

Sakuya slowly turned her head from Toboe's chest and let out a small gasp. "Natsuko? Akiko?" She questioned the two sandy coloured wolves in front of her. "What are you doing here?"

"You know these two?" Hige spoke up, turning his gaze to the three females.

The one with the messy bun and the moon-shaped bracelet, nodded. She was Natsuko, the older of the two twins and the one who had the darker brown ears. She walked up to the now-dead-leader and glared down at him, letting out a growl. "Stupid bastard."

"What the hell are you doing here?" Sakuya suddenly snapped, turning away from Toboe to face the two girls in front of her. "I thought you were killed along with the rest of the pack when the humans had tracked us down."

Akiko was the one who spoke up this time. She had a softer look to her, unlike her older sister who looked hard and colder. She sadly shook her head. "We took off and hid when we saw the hunters coming."

A loud snarl came from deep in Sakuya chest as she barred her fangs and flattened her ears against her head. "So you ran away from our pack, left us for dead and then joined this pack?" She growled, shooting a glare down at the dead leader. "You joined him to hunt me down?"

"It wasn't like that..." Akiko tried to explain but was cut short when there was a loud bang that exploded through the air. The other seven wolves from the disbanded pack, who were quiet until now, got scared and took off down the street, leaving their dead leader.

Tsume, Hige, Kiba and Toboe watched as the seven scared wolves took off in a panic from the gun shots. They knew it was a hunter and the pack was heading right for them. Sakuya watched from the corner of her eyes as they took off but kept her attention on the two sisters.

Black furred ears perked up and blue eyes turned to the direction of when the pack had taken off to. Blue knew that scent that was getting stronger. It was her old master, Quent. She knew that he must have heard of the wolves and was coming after them. He was on the hunt.

"No!" She suddenly cried out to the retreating pack, trying to catch up with them. "You're going the wrong way." She yelled and tried to pick up her pace. "No!"

But she was stopped in her tracks when Hige caught up to her and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to him. He stopped her from going into the trap just like the pack did. He knew that if the old man caught the pack and Blue, he wouldn't stop shooting and would've shot her as well.

"No." She yelled, trying to pull away from Hige. "Hige let me go, Quent is down there." She said, turning from Hige's shirt towards the pack. "They're going to get caught by him. And..." She whispered, her voice tired from screaming.

"He would get your too. He knows about you being half wolf. There's no telling what he would do to you." Hige said, placing a hand on her head and pulling her back into a hug. "I'm sorry." He whispered, knowing that she could never be with her old master again.

Suddenly, the world froze again and all that was heard were a series of gun shots and yelps of pain. Sakuya, Akiko and Natsuko all flattened their ears, the gun shots bringing back bad memories and Blue started to cry in Hige's chest, hugging him tighter. She blamed herself for their deaths.

Tsume's ear perked up and turned his head to were the wolves had taken off to their deaths. "He's coming this way." He announced and turned to Kiba who nodded.

"We have to get out here." The white furred leader said and he, Tsume and Toboe took off into the air and landed on the building's roof, looking down at the others.

Hige pulled away from Blue and lifted her chin. "We have to go." Was all he said and both he and Blue jumped onto the awning of one store and landed on the roof along with the others, leaving Sakuya and the two sisters down below.

"Sakuya, come on." Toboe yelled down to her.

The said black haired girl looked up at Toboe and then back down to the two sisters. She was still pissed off at them. They had left her pack just before they were hunted down by the humans. They should be dead too.

"Sakuya!" Both Toboe and Kiba yelled this time, making her look up at them. "Hurry up!"

Golden-blue eyes looked between the street where the human was coming and back to the twins and then back down the street again. What should she do? She could jump up on the roof and be safe and leave Akiko and Natsuko down on the street to face the human or she could let them join the pack and they could all go to Paradise together.

But could she forgive them? Searching her heart, Sakuya let out a sigh and locked eyes with Natsuko. "Since you have no pack left," She started, glaring back down at the dead leader. "do you want to join our pack and come with us to Paradise?"

Akiko and Natsuko were shocked to hear the question come from Sakuya. When they were with the old pack, everyone knew of Sakuya being the alpha's daughter. She was kind and caring one moment but could take down a wolf twice her size the next moment.

"Are you sure?" Akiko asked, looking up at her sister and then back over at Sakuya.

It was Tsume's turn but instead of yelling, he jumped down and landed in front of them, followed by Kiba. The silver haired guy picked up Akiko and Natsuko and put them both on his shoulders like a sack of potatoes and Kiba did the same to Sakuya. Both guys jumped back up on the roof and placed all three girls back down on the ground.

"What the hell was that for?" Sakuya yelled at Kiba.

Her angry question was answered with a loud yelp that came from Hige. Everyone turned to him and Blue, seeing that the timber wolf had been shot in the shoulder.

The brown haired boy fell to his knees and grasped his shoulder, trying to stop the blood from flowing down his arm. Blue was hovered over his, wrapping her red neckerchief around his shoulder to bandage it up.

Sakuya's body was overcome with a cold rush. It felt like a cold, winter like wind was enclosing her, making her blood run cold for a moment. Her black ears flattened to her head in sadness; because of her, Hige was hurt.

"We better get going." Tsume said and started to walk over to the other side of the roof.

Sakuya looked around, still sad about what happened to Hige. She slowly got up and walked over to Hige and Blue who had moved away from the edge of the roof. She kept her eyes down at her feet and whispered a small 'I'm so sorry'.

Hige lifted his head from Blue's shoulder and looked down at Sakuya, hearing her apology. "It wasn't your fault Sakuya." He said, placing his good hand on her shoulder.

"Come on down here you devils." Quent roared from down below. "I know you're up there, come on down here!"

Blue was about to turn to look over his shoulder when Hige stopped her and shook his head. Locking eyes with Hige's, Blue saw that he felt sorry for her.

"Come on, we don't want to get caught by him. He's probably trying to find a way to get up here." Kiba said, turning to Akiko and Natsuko, who had been quiet until now. "Do you want to come with us?"

The two blond-brown furred wolves, looked at each other and then gazed at each of the wolves one at a time. "Would it be ok if we went with you?" Natsuko asked, looking over at Sakuya. "We're sorry for what we've done." She said and her and her sister lowered their ears.

"We'll talk about this later." Was all Sakuya said as she followed Toboe as all eight wolves jumped off the other side of the roof and landed gracefully on the ground, taking off down the other road.

o-o-o-o

Throwing open the door that opened up to the roof, Quent aimed his rifle up, ready to shoot at any signs of a wolf. But when he looked up he saw that no one was up on the roof anymore.

Walking up from the stairs, he searched around the empty roof and spotted a small pool of blood that was near the edge of the roof.

That's right, he remembered hearing a yelp when he fired that one shot. He had gotten one. His cold grey eyes followed the trail of crimson blood and saw that the wounded wolf had gotten away.

"I'll get you." He murmured into the wind, sending his threat into the air.

* * *

Wolf's Rain © Bones Studio

Tell Me What The Rain Knows by AniuLonewolf


	4. Chapter 4

Tell Me What The Rain Knows

By AniuLonewolf

Chapter 4

o-o

After finding a quiet and safe place in a nearby park to rest for a while, Blue and Sakuya helped Hige wrap up his arm. When everyone was taken care of and Sakuya finally calmed down from the fight and finding the twins they set their minds on the task at hand. After coming up with a plan, they decided to split up and search around the rest of the city to try and find any traces of Darcia or Cheza.

The plan was for the new wolves, Akiko and Natsuko to stay with Sakuya since she knew about them the most and Kiba thought it would be a good chance for the three to make apologizes but Tsume pulled the others away saying that the two light brown wolves could turn on Sakuya and whoever was going to go with her plus with someone going with Sakuya and the other two new wolves, there would be not as many others to go search the city.

With that option hanging in the air, Kiba changed his mind and Natsuko was paired up with Tsume, seeing how it was his idea. The grey wolf just huffed and he and Natsuko headed off to cover the west side of the dome.

Blue and Hige went off to cover the east side of the dome and Kiba decided to watch over Akiko while Toboe and Sakuya went off to the south end. The plan was to try and get any information about Darcia or Cheza and meet back up at the park just before sun down.

Walking through the north end of the dome, Kiba and Akiko didn't exchange any words as they walked down an empty street. The new girl just slowly walked beside Kiba, silently twiddling with a strand of her long hair and kept her eyes on the ground as she walked.

"So what's the story between you, your sister and Sakuya?" Kiba suddenly asked, breaking the silence and making Akiko jump.

"Huh? Oh, we were once in the same pack. My mother and father were good friends with Sakuya's father who, was the leader." Akiko explained. "We grew up together, Sakuya being the oldest and we were the best of friends." A small smile appeared on the light brown wolf's lips and she remembered the fun times.

"But one day, Natsuko and I were sitting up on a hill when we picked up the scent of humans and we tried to get back to the rest of the pack but we were scared and..." She stopped.

"...and took off." Kiba finished for her, getting a slow, sad nod from Akiko.

"After we came back when the humans were gone, there was no one left." A single tear rolled down her cheek. "Our mother and father were dead as well as the others, Sakuya's father was no where to be found and neither was Sakuya."

"What happened?" Kiba asked, turning to her again.

"We don't know what had happened to Sakuya or the alpha but we had no where to go." Akiko said, her light brown ears flattened to her skull sadly. "We wondered around until we wondered too far and into another pack's territory and we were forced to stay with that pack."

"I see. You don't have to tell me anymore if you don't want to." Kiba said, looking up to the sky and said no more.

After what the white wolf said, the two returned to walking in silence. They stopped once in a while to ask random people if Darcia had come through this way. Some answered with a simple yes and then walked away, some ran away not even giving an answer.

Walking down an empty alley, Kiba and Akiko were about to turn back when a low voice came from the shadows.

"So you and the others are trying to get to Paradise." It said. Looking closer, the two wolves saw that it was a fat tabby cat.

Kiba and Akiko didn't say anything, all they did was stand there and look at the gray cat with wide eyes.

The cat saw this and gave a little low growl. "What? Do you not think that all the animals around here know about you rare wolves that run around in search of this Paradise place. All the dogs talk about it and word gets around pretty quick."

"So do you know anything about Darcia?" Kiba asked, stepping closer to the cat.

"Hmm, I don't know any specifics but the dogs were talking about a guy who was here yesterday and left around noon today. They said that there was an odd smell of flowers in the air and they somehow felt drawn to it but didn't now why." The cat explained.

"How can normal dogs know of the Flower?" Akiko asked with a tilt of her head.

Kiba turned to meet Akiko's eyes. "Dogs once used to be wolves but humans domesticated them and they fell away from the Flower's scent and they lost the way to Paradise." He said.

Golden amber eyes then turned to the cat. "Do you know where the dogs said the smell went to? Which direction?" The white wolf asked.

"They were saying something about a mountain in the north. They said that there were rumours about a mountain that is so tall that it is the only place where the sky meets the land."

"The sky meets the land?" Kiba and Akiko both repeated.

"Yeah and I also heard that it's called that because the Northern Lights touch there every once and a while."

"I see." Kiba said out load after a moment of thinking. "Is that all you know?"

The tabby cat slowly nodded. "'Fraid so."

The two wolves looked at each other and then at the tabby cat and both bowed their heads in thanks and then turned around and headed back to the main street.

"Looks like we should head back." Kiba said, looking up at the sky. The sun was dipping low, sinking behind the buildings.

"Yeah." The light brown haired girl nodded in agreement. With that, the two headed back to the park.

o-o-o-o

The silence was hovering over the two as Tsume and Natsuko slowly headed back to the park.

Tsume looked around, getting tired of staring at the ground. Sighing, he scanned the street he and Natsuko were walking on, in a straight line. People in the street walked around them.

"We didn't get much information." The older of the of the twins spoke up. "Wonder if anyone else got anything."

All Tsume did was grunt and stuff his hands in his leather pant's pockets and continued to walk, not saying a word.

The light brown haired girl sighed and crossed her arms over her chest as she walked and glanced over at the silent silver haired guy.

"Are you always this quiet?" Natsuko asked, suddenly feeling nervous. The two of them hardly exchanged five words to each other during the whole evening searching the streets.

"Most of the time." Was all Tsume said and all the was heard was a exhausted sigh. The sigh made Tsume look over at the new comer.

He couldn't help but notice that she wasn't that bad looking. She was dressed in a black mini skirt and had a sleeveless dark blue shirt on and a pair of white waistbands on either arm with rings on most of her fingers.

She seemed to be the type of person who would stick up for herself and speak her mind. She also seemed to be the kind of girl that liked to be alone sometimes but also had a happy spark.

Maybe in they spent more time together, Tsume would get closer to her and some of that happy spark would rub on him. Stupid thoughts.

During his inner thinking he didn't notice that his pace had slowed, making him walk more behind Natsuko.

He had always been the loner wolf, the tough guy who never showed weakness. But, even though he had just met Natsuko things- unexplainable things- seemed to click between them. They seemed to be meant for each other.

Tsume inwardly grunted. Stupid thoughts. There was no way that there could ever be a relationship between them. He seemed to be cursed of something.

It seemed like there was two inner feelings fighting over the matter of the new wolf that had just joining the pack.

There's the one side who was saying that they were just stupid thoughts and that the gray wolf was meant to be alone. But then there is the other side that was saying that the only stupid thoughts were that he was supposed to be alone. Maybe Natsuko would do him some good and it would never hurt to try and see if there was something between him and the light brown wolf.

Stupid thoughts. Love was just way too confusing.

Too caught up in his inner battle of his feelings, he failed to realize that the girl on his mind had stopped and he walked right into her.

The impact snapped him right out of his thoughts and as a reaction, placed a hand on her shoulder from behind to steady them both from the bump.

"S-Sorry." Tsume let out. He realized that his hand was still on her shoulder and dropped it to his side.

"That's ok." Natsuko smiled up at him, her green eyes shining in the setting sun.

Tsume was about to move along and continue walking when he saw that Natsuko was about to say something. He stopped in mid-step, waiting for her to say what was on her mind.

Natsuko saw this and suddenly felt as if a spot-light was on her and she swallowed, gathering up her courage to speak to the tough looking guy.

"Umm..." She started and Tsume raised an eyebrow at her, waiting for her to continue. "I was wondering where you got that scar on your chest from." Natsuko said, kinda fast and in a hurry to get it out.

Tsume saw she hurried her words and saw a bit of blush coming up on her cheeks and thought it was kinda cute. Wait, what? Now he's thinking that what she does it cute?

He turned his eyes away from her, not wanting anymore stupid thoughts coming up against his will.

Natsuko saw the look on his face and quickly turned around, suddenly feeling really bad for asking. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked." She said, feeling her cheeks heat up a bit more.

"I did what you did." Tsume said, his eyes not moving from the lamp post that he seemed so interested in. "I abandoned them when they were being hunted and I was caught and thrown from the pack. And to make me remember what I did, they gave me this scar to curse me forever."

Silence followed after and Natsuko felt bad because she didn't know what to say. All she could think of to say was a small, barely above a whisper 'Oh'. She sort of knew what he must of been going through, she and her sister left their pack that they grew up in. Their family was gone because of them.

"Come on." Tsume spoke up, making the girl jump. "We should get back, it's almost dark." He looked back at her from over his black sunglasses and saw her slowly nod and heard her whisper a small "Ok".

They continued down the street towards the park.

o-o-o-o

The east side of the dome was quiet as a graveyard as the two wolves continued down another dead street.

"It's so quiet." Blue whispered, keeping close to Hige and keeping her head low but her ears alert. "I feel like I can't raise my voice."

Hige looked down at the half wolf and tried to form a smile but the silence of the air stopped him. All he did was sigh and look forward.

The deadly silence was suddenly broken when the two heard a twig snap. Blue was about to gasp when Hige clamped a hand over her mouth and he led her behind a rundown building that used to be a store.

"Shh." Hige whispered, keeping his hand over Blue's mouth. "Something's coming closer." They waited in complete silence and their hearts sped up as they heard footsteps coming closer and the leaves crunching under each step.

The familiar stale alcohol smell was caught by the blue-black half-wolf and her eyes widened. "Hige!" Blue whispered, pulling his hand away from her mouth. "Hige it's Quent!" She said, placing her other hand on his chest.

The footsteps got louder and Hige tired to keep calm. If they were caught by the old man he knew for sure that Quent would try and kill them both. Looking behind him, he cursed under his breath as he saw that he had led Blue into a dead end.

Blue's heart would no slow down. She pressed her face into Hige's chest as the boy in the yellow pullover tried to block her from the danger that was coming around the corner.

"There's no way out." Hige whispered as he drew Blue closer to him to try and hide her from Quent. "We can't jump up to the roofs either."

They held their breath as they saw the old man come around the corner and pointed his gun at the two. "I got you now you devils." He lowly growled as he aimed at Hige, who was blocking Blue.

"What the hell did we do to you?" Hige growled, barring his fangs and holding Blue closer to him.

"It wasn't what you or your so-called pack did," Quent said, moving over to block the only way out. "It's what you damned kind did to my family and my life."

Blue raised her head up from Hige's chest and her deep blue eyes landed on Quent's stone cold grey ones and felt a shiver run up and down her spine.

"Damn you to hell!" The old man yelled as he pulled the trigger.

Things seemed to go in slow motion as the crack echoed through the dead silent air. Hige braced himself to take the bullet for Blue but instead came in contact with the gravel ground with Blue on top of him.

Opening his eyes, he felt blood trickle down his cheek and when Blue lifted her head up, he saw that she had a good sized gash on her forehead and the blood what running into her eye.

Hige was snapped back into reality when Quent tried to fire at them again. This time Blue blocked it and it skinned her shoulder. She let out a painful yelp and fell to her knees, blood starting to run down her black jean jacket.

"Blue!" Hige yelled and then turned to face the threat and let out a loud growl and leaped at Quent. He wasn't thinking through what he was doing. All he felt was anger because Blue was hurt. He jumped at Quent even with the man having a loaded gun.

Another crack boomed through the air and was followed by a yelp from Hige and a loud, agonizing scream that came from Blue. The brown timber wolf fell to the ground, blood trickling down the side of his ribs where the bullet skinned his flesh.

"Hige!" Blue yelled and crawled over to him, her left arm useless from the bullet wound. She kneeled down by him and watched as he struggled to get. "Don't try and get up, you'll just rip it open even more." She said, helping sit up, pressing her hand on his once yellow pullover to try and stop some of the bleeding.

"But... Blue..." Hige tried to get out but the pain was just too much for him and Blue saw it and placed a finger on his lips to silence him.

Quent reloaded his gun and aimed it at the half wolf and was ready to pull the trigger.

Her left eye was forced closed with the blood that wouldn't stop flowing down her face from the gash. Black fur bristled with anger as pearl white fangs glistened in the setting sun.

"You dare bare your fangs at me?" Quent yelled as he was about to pull the trigger. "I can't believe I took you in and took care of you."

"I'm sorry Quent." Blue said, lowering her growl a bit. "I didn't want any of this to happen."

Quent's eyebrows met as his face was set is a deep angry frown and his face pulled on the trigger and the fourth crack boomed through the air.

o-o-o-o

Black ears perked up as a load crack from a gun rippled through the silent air and Sakuya and Toboe stopped in their tracks.

"What was that?" The black wolf asked as she turned to look at Toboe who was just as questioning as she.

"I don't know but maybe we should check it out. Someone could be in trouble." The red headed boy said.

There was another loud thunderous crack which was followed by a loud yelp and scream. "Come on!" Toboe yelled and grabbed Sakuya's hand and they broke into a run, heading for the direction of where the gun shot's and yelp came from.

When they entered the east side of the dome, they heard another gun shot rip through the air followed by someone yelling "Hige!"

"It's Hige and blue!" Toboe said as they got closer and they saw a man holding, pointed at two wolves; Hige who was struggling to get up from the ground and Blue who was hovering over him, growling at the man she once followed.

Toboe's step slowed down as the young wolf thought things. That man, Quent was special to Blue. He of all the other wolves in the pack could relate to the half wolf because he knew what it felt like to be loved by a human.

Sakuya noticed that Toboe was torn from knowing what was the right thing to do. Earlier when they were walking together, Toboe had told Sakuya about when he was a pup and was taken in by the elderly lady and how he loved her so much and when she died, he was heartbroken.

Seeing the hurt and torn look on his face, Sakuya realized that because Blue was once attached to this human, Toboe didn't want to attack him.

There was a click sound and Sakuya realized that the man had reloaded to shoot again. Taking matters into her own hands, she took a leap into the air, fangs barred and jumped at Quent, throwing him to the ground.

Quent was too preoccupied with aiming at Blue that he never saw the other black wolf that jumped at him. When he did see her, it was too late and she threw him down to the ground. When he hit the ground, the wolf landed on top of him, her white fangs barred.

Things happened so fast that Blue didn't know what sure what was actually happening. She snapped back into reality when Toboe ran around the corner and asked her if she was alright.

"Huh?" She asked, trying to grasp what the hell was going on.

"Come on, we should get out of here." Sakuya said, walking up to the others. She had a small trickle of blood running down her forehead.

The half-wolf suddenly snapped back and let out a gasp. She jumped up when she saw Quent laying on the ground and she was about to run over to him when Hige grabbed her.

"Hige let me go." Blue said and tried to rip out of his arms but was stopped by the searing pain that shot through her arm.

"Don't worry about him." Sakuya spoke up. "All I did was head butt him and knocked him out." She wiped the little trickled of blood from getting in her eye. "He'll be out for a while, giving us a chance to get back to the others."

"She's right." Hige said looking over at the darkening sky. "We should head back."

No more words were spoken as the four wolves took off down the street, towards the park where they would meet up with the others.

As they walked pass the unconscious Quent, Blue looked down at him. Hige felt that Blue was upset and pulled her closer to him, letting her rest her head on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry." He whispered to her, hugging her closer as they continued to walk behind Toboe and Sakuya.

o-o-o-o

Kiba, Tsume, Natsuko and Akiko were all sitting around the park waiting. It was already passed sun down and the four others hadn't returned yet.

"I'm worried." Akiko spoke up as she played with a stray strand of her hair. "Shouldn't be go and see if they are ok?"

"No." Tsume spoke up again the quiet girl. "We shouldn't split up again, now that it's dark."

"Tsume is right, Hige and the others can take care of themselves." Kiba spoke up as he looked into the distance down the road. "They shouldn't be that long now."

"No need to fight over us." A voice called out and the four turned around to see the other members of the pack walking up the street.

"Where the hell were you?" Tsume barked out but quickly fell quiet when he saw that they were injured.

Toboe seemed fine, Sakuya's cut on her forehead continued to bleed down her tanned skin, Blue was helping Hige walk and was holding a cloth on his side while her left eye was still forced close and her left shoulder still bleeding.

Sakuya walked up and stopped in front of Kiba, Toboe by her side. She saw the look on his face and knew what question was coming.

"What happened?" Kiba asked, turning to lock eyes with the black wolf.

"Blue and Hige ran into a human and he had the intent on killing them. Toboe and I arrived there and I knocked him out so we could get away." Sakuya explained, helping Blue set Hige down on the nearby bench.

"It was Quent." Blue spoke up sadly as she sat down beside Hige.

"I see." Was all Kiba said, understanding how Blue must have been feeling. He didn't want to press the subject anymore so he decided to change the subject.

He turned around to the rest. Tsume and Natsuko had been quiet up until now and Akiko went down to a nearby stream to get a cloth wet for Hige and Blue's injuries.

"Did anyone get any information about Darcia?"

Silence fell over the pack and everyone looked around at everyone else, waiting for someone to speak up about some kind of information they gathered.

Blue was the first to speak up. "Hige and I couldn't find anyone in the east side so we couldn't ask anyone." She explained, helping Hige wrap up his wound. She had already taken off his yellow pullover and black long sleeved shirt, leaving him shirtless. Looking him over she couldn't help but poke fun at him. "For being a cubby wolf you sure are fit."

"Hey that's all fur." Hige defended himself as he watched her treat his bullet wound. The bullet had just grazed his ribs but with him walking and moving around, the wound only got bigger so they had to try and wrap it up as best and as soon as they could.

"Sakuya and I talked to an old lady." Toboe said, he and Sakuya had taken a spot by the trunk of a nearby cherry tree. The young red head was cleaning up Sakuya's cut. "She said that Darcia's soldiers had stormed through the city yesterday, needing to restock supplies."

"Did she say anything about where they were going?" Tsume asked, speaking up for the first time in a while.

"Yeah, she said that they were heading north to a mountain or something - she didn't really know that much." Sakuya answered, holding a torn piece of Toboe's sleeve up to her forehead.

"We heard some information from a local cat in an alleyway." Kiba spoke, trying to piece together the facts. He turned to Tsume and Natsuko but they shook their heads, saying that they couldn't find out anything.

After everyone's wounds were taken care of, the eight wolves sat around in the park trying to come up with some sort of a plan as to what they should do. They came up with a plan to rest for the night and then set out at sun rise to the mountain that the tabby cat told them about.

o-o-o-o

The moon light the sky, making everything glow a light blue as all the wolves tried to get some sleep. Sakuya watched over the pack as she stood on guard, a yawn escaped her mouth as she sat up on a branch of the cheery tree, watching everyone from high up. A sigh came from her lips as she twirled with a piece of her jacket as she looked up at the stars.

Being alone in the silence of the night was annoying her so she closed her eyes and started to hum a song; a song her father would always sing to her when she was just a pup. He had always said that her mother would sing it, so every time she hummed the song she would think of her mother.

Another sigh escaped her lips as she wished upon all the stars in the sky that both her mother and father were still alive. She opened her eyes again to scan the park to see if anyone was out of place and then lightly closed her eyes and listened to herself hum the song that was the only kind of memory of both her parents.

Laying on a hill nearby, Kiba was being pulled into another nightmare.

_Hot tongues of fire burned all around as the adult white wolf tried to find a way out of the burning forest. This time he was running in the forest, not looking from overhead. He could feel the heat from the burning force all around him as he tried to follow the white wolf that was running ahead of him._

_"Wait!" He tried to call out but his words fell on deaf ears._

_Suddenly the white wolf in front of him stopped and looked up at another wolf that was up on a hill. It was that black wolf that was in his other dream from before._

_"Who are you?" Kiba asked trying to catch up to the midnight black wolf who had a little black pup in his mouth._

_Suddenly something clicked and Kiba saw that the little white pup. The little girl wolf pup's coat of fur was a thick midnight black, just like..._

_His eyes widened as the thought was realized._

_The little pup with the black wolf, that little pup must have been Sakuya!_

_Looking back over at the other white wolf and the snow white pup in her mouth. He saw again, that this was just like his dream before and the larger white wolf was his own mother who was holding himself as a young pup._

_Of course, just like the other nightmare the night before. It was what happened to him when he was just a few days ago. The humans had come to attack and set fire to the forest around their den. His mother tried to get him to safety and that was when he was taken in to the tribe to be raised._

_This wasn't just any nightmare.. he was reliving his past._

_Both the adult wolves had leather collars on. Looking closer, Kiba saw that those collars looked just like that of the one that Hige wore. It was a leather band with a silver plate with a letter of the alphabet on it. Hige's was the letter 'X' while the black wolf's letter was 'A' and the white wolf's collar had 'B'. What did all of this mean._

_If the white wolf was his mother, than who was the black wolf? Was that midnight male his father? Then why did he have who he thought to be Sakuya with him? Didn't Sakuya say that she never met her mother but lived with her father? And he himself didn't know anything about his father, all he knew was that his mother was killed by the humans that attacked them._

_So many questions were running through his mind that his head started to hurt and his vision started to get blurry and he became dizzy. Did this dream mean something? Was it trying to tell him something important?_

"Kiba." Someone called out to him and he snapped back out of his dream with a yelp.

Wide yellow eyes looked around and focused on the person in front of him, sitting beside him on the hill. It was Sakuya and she had a concerned look on her face and hovering over him a little.

"A-Are you ok? You were having another nightmare and talking in your sleep." She said as she sat back a little, not wanting to scare him. "You looked so scared."

Kiba was quiet for a moment as his mind showed his flashbacks of the dream that he just had. "I had another nightmare.. about my past." He said looking up at her.

"You mean like the other night?" Sakuya asked as she looked around the park at the sleeping others and then back at him.

"Yeah." Was all he said at first. "I saw the same scene of my mother taking me to safety from the fire and I saw..." He trailed off for a moment.

"You saw what?" She asked softly.

"What was your father like?" The dark haired boy asked the girl in front of him. He saw that she seemed a bit startled by the question and jerked her head back in surprise.

"M-My father?" She repeated. She grabbed onto the thin blue jacket that was around her in a nervous habit of picking at it. "He was as black as midnight with kind blue eyes and a scar running over his snout." She said. "He was so kind to everyone but at the same time very powerful and protective." A small smile appeared on her face as she remembered her father's kind words and the memories of being with him. "He also had a collar on for some reason -he never told me why only that because of it, they always had to keep moving." She said.

"He was black furred?" Kiba asked. "And he had a collar?" Kiba's shocked face returned as he remembered the midnight black wolf in his dream with the little black pup in his teeth.

"Yeah, the collar had the letter 'A' on it." Sakuya said.

Flashbacks came to his mind once more, this time of the collar itself. Yes! That black wolf had a collar on that had the letter 'A'. What did all of this mean?

"Yes but why are you asking me this? Does this have something to do with your dream?" Sakuya asked as she readjusted her seating position. "What's going on?""I don't know but I do remember a black male with a little black pup with him. He was in my dream and my mother was looking up at him." Kiba said. "He had a scar running over his nose and also a collar like what you just told me."

What was going on? Why did he feel this connection with this newcomer Sakuya? What was with the dreams of his past and why did everything seem to point to the black wolf that was sitting in front of him.

His questions were interrupted when he tried to suppress a yawn. Looking over at the girl beside him he saw that she caught the yawn as well as she tried to hold it back. "I guess we should call it a night, we can think about it later." He said as he stood up, helping the dark haired girl up. "We need all the rest we can get for traveling."

"Ok." Was all she said as started walking down the hill back to where Toboe was sleeping under the cherry tree. With one look back at Kiba she whispered a 'good night' and jumped back up into the tree to finish off her duty on guard.

Kiba nodded a reply back to her and laid back down on the soft grass. Laying his head down on his arm he looked out into the city buildings. The flashbacks of both dreams wouldn't let his mind rest but he tried his best to quiet them so he would be able to get some sleep before the sun came up.

The voice that calls to him will never stop. It would always tell him to search even to the ends of the earth. No matter how far he would go it would always end up the same, the same road going on forever and there would be nothing there. But the voice would never stop and that was why he and the others will never give up.

They would search for Darcia, find Cheza and finally reach Paradise.

* * *

Wolf's Rain © Bones Studio

Tell Me What The Rain Knows by AniuLonewolf


	5. Chapter 5

Tell Me What The Rain Knows

By AniuLonewolf

Chapter 5

o-o

The pack was up and traveling long before the sunrise. They were heading out of the city and heading for where the tabby cat had told them of the mountain. They had rested for more than half the night to regain some strength and then started heading for the outskirts, walking the empty streets.

When they reached the city limits, they were met with silent desert. All around was endless dunes of sand that surrounded the city, they sky swallowed by blackness with tiny shimmering stars.

"How are we going to know where to go?" Akiko asked, trying to block the blowing sand from her eyes.

"We'll just follow our noses." Kiba said, facing the blowing wind, looking as far as his eyes could show him.

"We'll surely get lost." Tsume grunted, folding his arms across his chest.

"Our noses will lead us to Cheza." Kiba said, turning to look at everyone who stood behind him. "Have faith."

And with numerous sighs, the pack started off again, trusting that Kiba knew what he was talking bout. They walked endlessly through the hills of sand, Kiba walking ahead, trying to pick up the scent of the Flower through all the other smells in the air.

After hours upon hours and uncountable miles traveled, the sun began to show itself on the horizon, greeting the morning with a warm glow.

"I'm hungry." Hige whined. His wound was wrapped up, his arm in a sling and his pullover stained with blood that Blue tried to wash out.

"We should be near another dome soon." Sakuya spoke up while walking beside Toboe. "I've been through these parts before."

"How do you know that?" Tsume asked while walking beside Natsuko. "The whole damn place is sand, how could you possibly tell where the hell we are?"

"Years ago, I remember when we were all one pack." Sakuya's eyes glanced over at the twins for a moment. "We travelled by here once, I think Darcia's family once ruled it." She looked over at the outspoken Tsume. "I remember that dead forest over there, it used to be an oasis." She explained pointing over to the thicket of dry, dead trees that once used to be alive with life.

"Well then we better hurry and there. Darcia might be holding Cheza there." Kiba said and with that they started off again, towards the city.

o-o-o-o

"How is she?" A tall dark shadowed mad asked.

"The Flower Maiden's life force is stable but she was showing odd reactions yesterday." The monotone girl said from the desk, her dull eyes glued to the computer monitor.

"What kinds of reaction?" The robed man asked, stepping closer to the girl.

"She started to cry and mumble things." Was all the girl could tell him from what she knew.

A sigh came from the man. Why couldn't people do things right? Was it that hard to study the girl? They had captured the girl almost two months ago and the scientists were still trying to understand the tests that they were running. They had been working non-stop and they still couldn't get any answers.

"Open the door." He ordered, stepping up to the said closed double doors that led to the question specimen.

"But sir it'll mess up..." the girl tried to get out but was cut off when the man turned around and grabbed her by the throat, lifting her off her feet.

"Open the door!" He ordered again, his masked face right in front of her's, his dark blue right eye piercing into her soul.

"Y-Yes sir, s-sorry sir." The girl choked out, her hand frantically trying to find the button. When she found it she wasted no time and pressed it, making the doors open.

"Good." Was all he said and let go of the girl, making her fall on her butt. With that he walked into the room.

Red eyes fluttered open to see who the intruder was. Yet another scientist coming to set up to take another test? But not, this was someone else. The man who captured her and put her in this place, away from her wolves.

"You're very interesting..." The masked man said, standing in front of the girl. "...Cheza."

At the sound of her name, she lifted her head, her pale purple hair falling just past her shoulders as her red eyes locked with the right eye on the man, his other eye hidden by the mask.

"D-Darcia." Her voice softly came from her mouth.

The said man nodded his head a tiny fraction at his name. "Why are you not cooperating with my men?" He knelt down to study her closer. He took a gloved hand and lifted her chin, making her look at his face.

His question was met with only silence. He waited until she forced her chin out of his hand and he knew that she was not going to talk. A sigh came from him as he stood up at full height and looked down at the young girl.

"It doesn't matter if you don't talk. I will find a way to get to Paradise one way or another. Just you watch." Darcia said, reaching his hand up to the mask that covered his face.

Cheza watched from the chair that she sat in as Darcia removed the mask to show a normal deep blue right eye and a yellow left eye: a wolf's eye.

A tiny gasp come from Cheza as she looked at the man with the cursed eye.

"This is the curse that passed thought my family because my grandparents were able to find a way to Paradise. It's the same curse that runs through my blood." Darcia said, placing a hand on his cheek under the cursed eye. "And it is because of this curse that I will be able to enter Paradise just like my grandparents."

Cheza's bright red eyes grew wide as she stood up, only reaching the middle of the man's chest. "You won't be accepted by Paradise."

"I'll show you and your damned wolves, I'll take over Paradise and bring Haroma back." With that said, he placed the mask back over his face and he walked out of the chamber, the doors closing behind him.

Tears couldn't help up collect in her eyes as Cheza sat back in her chair, putting her feet back in the bowl of water that was provided so she wouldn't lose her strength.

For a month she hadn't been with Kiba and the other wolves and she couldn't stop worrying about them. Looking through the green tinted dome she was held in and seeing the first quarter moon through the window of the other room. There was going to be a full moon in a few days.

"Kiba.." She whispered as another tear fell down her cheek. "... be safe."

o-o-o-o

Walking through the busy streets of the dome, the wolves disguised as humans tried to find any clues that Darcia was around. They asked around the entire city, trying to get any information about the man they were hunting but the humans were too scared to answer their questions. More or less Darcia's men scared them into silence.

They spent the entire day searching around for any leads whatsoever but it seemed like their mission was impossible as they watched the sun begin to set behind the city sky line. They had wasted yet another day, another day without Cheza.

"We should just continue through the city and just head north." Hige said. "We know Darcia will be heading there so we might as well get a step ahead."

"He has a point." Natsuko spoke up from beside Tsume and her sister. "It would save some time."

"Agreed." Kiba nodded and then turned to Sakuya. "You said you've been here before right? Do you know if we'll be going the right way?"

The blue-golden eyed girl nodded and then turned her gaze to see the street ahead. "We never headed north but I know the mountain from here, it will take a few days."

"Ok well we should get going." Kiba said and they picked up the pace to get out of the dome as quickly as they could.

When they reached the edge of the city, they came to a barren wasteland, dead silent and empty. Looking up at the rising moon Kiba could only think of one thing as he felt her presence get stronger. "Cheza... " He whispered as they entered the dead land. "We're coming."

Everyone quietly walked in pairs as the wind blew around them towards the north, where the mountain was. Sakuya who was walking beside Toboe, kept looking back and forth at Kiba, watching his every move, letting her mind wander. Something felt weird, something she couldn't put her finger on. Those dreams that Kiba had, they were just like hers, so much that it was scary.

Kiba felt that someone was watching him. Turning around, his golden eyes clashed with golden blue that were Sakuya's. Her eyes seemed to try and peer into his soul to answer the questions that buzzed around in her head.

"Something the matter?" The white wolf asked the other wolf that was like his negative reflection - white against black.

The black wolf snapped out of her stare and tried to come up with an answer. She looked over at Toboe and then trotted up to walk with Kiba to talk to him.

"I've just been thinking about those dreams that we've been having." Sakuya confessed. "It's just so weird that they're so real and almost like we're dreaming about our past. Do you think they mean anything?"

"I'm not entirely sure but dreams do sometimes mean something." Kiba said, looking up at the dark sky. "Maybe our dreams are trying to tell us something."

"Well I hope we sort it out soon. I keep getting these flashbacks of my past." Sakuya said, looking ahead.

"I'm sure we'll get it sorted out soon." Kiba offered a smiled to her.

After they finished off their conversation, Sakuya went back to walk beside the quiet Toboe. She offered him a smile which grew bigger when he smiled back. There was a sudden strong gust of wind that came from the right that almost forced Sakuya off her balance, making her bump into the young red wolf.

"Sorry about that." She apologized as she regained her balance.

"Don't worry about it." He said and went back to looking down at his paws, keeping his attention on not bumping into Hige who walked in front of him.

Everything was so confusing right now. He was only still a pup although not many think of him that way. He had grown a lot in the past two years that he had been traveling with Kiba, Tsume and Hige. He was about seventeen in human years but he was still confused about everything that was going on. He was taken in by an old lady when he was just a baby and after she died he was devastated and didn't know what to do. He was raised like a dog and didn't know how to survive like a wolf.

Then when he meant Laura he had a weird feeling inside all of a sudden that caused him to want her to notice him which lead downhill. His ears flattened as he had a mental flashback of that time when he first met her and attacked her falcon. All he wanted to do was come up with some way to get to talk and interact with her. But it went to far and he had to leave.

Tsume rescued him from being caught by any soldiers after what he had done to the bird. Toboe felt safe with Tsume because he could sense and see that the grey wolf could carry himself securely as a wolf and knew how to survive. Following Tsume he met Kiba, Hige and Blue and finally felt like he was going to be ok and now knew that he belonged somewhere and had friends that would watch his back.

And when he rescued Sakuya everything went up into confusion and all these questions started forming in his head. He felt so happy around Sakuya, felt that he somehow belonged by her.

W-What? That was such a stupid, stupid thought. How could he think of something like that? Like heck Sakuya would ever want to... to... be with him. He had no chance with her and that thought made him really sad and made him feel a sinking feeling in his chest.

Blue golden eyes stayed lowered as Sakuya studied the grains of sand that her paws stepped on. What was this weird feeling that she had every time she was around Toboe? She had never felt like this before and it felt strange. She liked being around Toboe, it made her feel happy and.. and safe. She felt so safe in his arms when they ran into that pack of wolves that were hunting her down.

Did she somehow, sometime develop feelings for Toboe? But would he ever want to be with.. with her? So many different feelings were running through her mind, her heart was overwhelmed with the feelings that she didn't ever know what she was feeling. She was happy to be by him but nervous at the same time. Then she would start to feel sad to start thinking that he wouldn't want anything to do with her. Why was everything so confusing!

Natsuko kept her head low with her arm in front of her while they all walked down the waste lands. Tsume walked beside her quietly also keeping his head down. She ran her hands up and down her arms to try and keep warm as the moon rose higher in the sky and the air became colder.

"Stupid cold." She growled under her breath. If felt like the wind was going right through her, her short sleeve shirt and skirt didn't do much to keep her warm.

Tsume saw from the corner of his eye that Natsuko was cold. Running ideas -some he thought that were stupid- through his mind and then sighed.

"Here." Tsume said as he took off his black jacket and placed it around her shoulders. "You look cold. I know it's ripped and all but it's better than nothing."

Natsuko almost faltered in step as her heart started pounding really fast. "T-Thank you." She nodded in thanks and showed him a small smile. "But won't you be cold?" She asked looking at him; all he had left was a dark grey sleeveless shirt and the wind was picking up.

"Nah I'll be fine." He said and with that he turned his attention back to what was ahead of him. But inside he was a little happy that she had smiled at him. What was it about her smile that warmed him so?

His jacket was kind of big on her but it did the job of keeping her body warm. Natsuko wrapped the jacket more around her frame and couldn't keep the smile from her lips. The possibility had always been on her mind every since she had met the grey wolf and it wouldn't leave her alone. Could she ever, possibly be with Tsume.. as... as a couple?

No no, that was crazy to daydream like that. Shaking her head a little, Natsuko tried to set her mind back on the issue at hand and continued to walk beside the silent silver furred wolf. It was too complicated for her to start thinking about Tsume like that and what's more, she hadn't even known him that long. That would just be weird to just burst out and say that she liked him even though she had only met him a couple days ago.

The pack continued to walk through the barren wasteland, nothing around them to spark even an ounce of hope. It just reminded them even more of what the issue was at hand; that the earth itself was dying, shutting down from all the pollution that the humans had poisoned it with. That was the whole reason why they were journeying to get Cheza so they could get to Paradise when the earth finally gave up and all hope would be lost for the humans. But the wolves would live on and continue life in Paradise.

"This is so depressing." Hige sighed as he looked up at the sky while still walking beside Blue. "The air around us is so sad that I can practically feel the earth is wanting to cry." He whispered.

Blue listened closely to what the chubby timber wolf was saying and to her it seemed like the first wise thing that she had ever heard him say. But it was not the right time to poke fun for she knew full well what he was talking about and she knew that everyone else in the pack also felt the same way.

"We should sing a song." Hige suddenly piped up which made Blue shake her head. Hige would always be Hige. And that was alright.

Everyone thought that the timber wolf was just joking but as they continued to walk they suddenly hear a faint humming coming from someone. Looking around they saw that it was Sakuya who was humming. It was soft and light, almost sad sounding tune that carried through the wind to the other wolves' ears.

The midnight black wolf who was walking beside Toboe was just staring off into the distance, not even realizing that everyone stopped and was staring at her.

When she finally did realize that she was being looked at, she snapped out of the trace like state she had been in and looked around at everyone. "What? What did I do?"

"That song..." Kiba spoke up, walking up to her from the front of the line. "Where did you hear that song?"

"Oh that? I remember my father singing it to me when I was little." She said, lowering her eyes from everyone's gaze. "When Hige mentioned singing, that song came to mind. Why what's wrong with it?" She was totally confused. It wasn't like her singing was horrible was it?

Everyone else exchanged looks and nodded to each other, whispering little things to one another that Sakuya couldn't make out. After, they turned back to her and Kiba spoke up again.

"We've all heard that song before too." He said.

"Can you sing it again for us?" Toboe piped up, looking at the black wolf.

She had never been asked to sing for others before, well not since she was with her father and the rest of the old pack. They had always complimented on her voice and such but she just loved to sing or hum to herself. "S-sure I guess."

And with that they wolves continued on traveling only this time not in double lines. Sakuya was walking in the middle with the others walking around her as if her singing was protecting them some way- giving them some sort of hope to carry on.

_Tell me what the rain knows_

_Or are this the tears of ages_

_That wash away the wolf's way_

_And leave not a trace of the day_

_Tell me what the rain knows_

_Or is this the flood of fortune_

_The pours itself upon me_

_Oh see how I drown in the sea_

_Hark hear the howl that eats the moon alive_

_Your fur is on fire_

_The smoke turned the whole sky raven black_

_And the world upon your back will crack_

_Where will you go know you've no home?_

_Let the rain wash away your last days_

When Sakuya was done singing, everything went quiet again as each wolf began to tell their own story of how they had heard that song sometime in their past before meeting up with the others.

Tsume and Hige's stories were somewhat the same as they told their past about the song. Both of their packs would howl the song to the moon every time there was a full moon. It was somewhat of a blessing to the earth to tell it to keep holding on a little longer until the Chosen had opened the door to Paradise. Then Akiko and Natsuko brushed on their pasts which was like Sakuya's in saying they always heard Sakuya's father humming it. Toboe and Blue were the only ones who didn't fully remember hearing the song from somewhere, they just knew that they had heard it before.

"The humans that took care of me used to sing that song when I walked through the village." Kiba said, looking down as his paws as he continued walking. "They said it was the song of the wolves and they would sing it to me since I was the 'chosen wolf'."

"Chosen wolf?" Natsuko, Akiko and Sakuya all said at the same time, all with shocked looks on their faces.

The snow white wolf explained that in the village that he was raised in, the natives always spoke of him as the Chosen Wolf that would be the one who would open the path to Paradise and save the wolves. Saving the wolves would save the world for life would start over until history repeated itself.

The twins looked over at Sakuya as the black wolf walked up to the white one. They looked so much alike save for Kiba being a little bigger and Sakuya being slender for her gender but their faces has similar features. White fur of Kiba's stood out against the midnight black of Sakuya's fur as the two locked eyes.

"My father always spoke of the Chosen but he said that I was the wolf who would open Paradise." Sakuya said softly, confusion clear in her voice as she looked down at her paws.

"What could this mean?" Natsuko asked.

"Well we don't have time right now to ask questions." Kiba suddenly spoke up as he turned away from the black wolf. "We have to keep moving to get to the mountain."

And so the pack continued to walk through the dead land. Since then they had split up into their double lines again. Akiko had taken the opportunity to trot up to Kiba and started a small conversation with him at the front while Blue and Hige whispered about something and Natsuko tried to start a chat with the silent Tsume, the brown haired girl still wearing his jacket.

Toboe couldn't help but look over at Sakuya. He studied her features and felt sorry for her as the expression on her face was of full rejection and sadness. She just continued to look down at her feet as they continued through the flat lands, not caring where she was walking, just making sure to keep in line with Blue in front of her.

She was mentally kicking herself for singing that song. Now look at everyone, everyone was all sad now and it was her fault for bringing up the past. And then with the issue of the Chosen Wolf, she felt stupid for speaking out of line. Kiba was obviously the 'alpha' of this makeshift pack and she had spoken out of line by saying what her father had always told her. Even Natsuko and Akiko were shocked to hear what Kiba had said.

With the feeling of guilt and sadness, the red flames of anger suddenly sparked inside of her. She had always been filled with anger ever since her pack was killed. If she had felt even a tiny bit of anger it would grow and grow until it gained control and she would keep feeding it. She didn't know why but she was angry at Kiba for cutting her off.

They needed to solve this mystery. Well - more like three mysteries at once. First there was how they were going to save Cheza and open Paradise and such and then there were their dreams that both she and Kiba had been having about their past. And now there was the problem with who is the real Chosen One.

All of it was just so confusing and she just wanted to scream out loud until someone - some angel - flew down and gave her the clear and right answer that would make all of this pain go away.

o-o-o-o

After hours upon hours of travelling they finally reached the edge of the waste land and finally set their paws near a small creek with a few surviving trees and shrubs growing around.

"This is the best place as any." Kiba announced as he turned around to look at everyone. In return everyone nodded, well everyone except Sakuya who just wondered off away from everyone else ad slumped down near the creek. Toboe glanced over at Kiba and then headed over to where the dark brown haired girl had stormed off to.

"Hey." Toboe spoke up as he sat down beside Sakuya who had ditched her light blue thin jacket on a rock, only in her white tank top. She was swishing her feet in the water, her jeans rolled up to her knees. "Are you ok?"

Golden blue eyes looked up at Toboe and she couldn't help but let out a sigh as she pulled her knees up to her chin. "I'm just thinking about earlier."

"You mean about the song?" Toboe asked, rolling up his sleeve further up his elbows. "Don't let it get to you, Kiba just isn't the talkative type during times like these."

"Yeah well I just want this done and over with." She said sharply. "I don't care if I never talk to him again." She sent a stone glare in Kiba's direction, watching him and the others talk while setting up a little fire.

"But you don't mean that right?" Toboe tried to turn the subject around. "Right now we all need to stick together and help each other until we get to Paradise."

"Then what would happen then?" Sakuya lifted her head, her eyes were half open starring out at the creek. "I'm not questioning that there isn't Paradise but what would happen when we get there? What about the pack?" She had all these questions running through her head that it was giving her a headache.

Toboe could see that Sakuya was really torn up about what was going on. Suddenly he saw tears streaming down her eyes. "I watched my entire pack, my family being killed by those damn soldiers. Everything that was my life is now gone and now all of this with finding the Flower. I just want it to stop."

It hurt him to see her so upset. Quietly and in one swift movement he moved over to her and pulled her into a hug. She was sobbing with tears falling down her cheeks, her face buried in Toboe's shirt, her one arm around his neck, the other hand on his chest where his heart was. All he could do was sit there and try to calm her down, holding her tight and telling her that everything would be ok.

Even though he himself couldn't fully believe his own words. Was everything really going to be ok?

* * *

Wolf's Rain © Bones Studio

Tell Me What The Rain Knows by AniuLonewolf


	6. Chapter 6

Tell Me What The Rain Knows

By AniuLonewolf

Chapter 6

o-o

After a while Sakuya had calmed down and stopped crying, still holding onto Toboe tightly. In turn Toboe kept this arms around her slender frame, holding her tight as if thinking that she would slip away from him if he didn't. The two sat against the tree quietly, loving the feel of one another in each other's arms.

"Thank you Toboe for saving me that day in the forest." Sakuya whispered into his chest.

Toboe, at first, was caught a little off guard from what she had said but it made him feel warm inside to hear her soft voice. He tightened his arms around her a little, pulling her closer to him. "I will always be here for you Sakuya, I promise."

The rest of the pack sat around the small fire eating supper which was cooked fish. While sitting around together they planned out what they were going to do to try and get Cheza back from Darcia once they would meet up at the mountain. So far they had nothing solid to plan from. It was hard to plan anything out since they had no idea what Darcia was planning to do with Cheza and how he was going to open his 'own Paradise'.

Blue couldn't help looking over at the sleeping couple by the tree every few minutes. She thought they made such a cute couple. She knew that Toboe would take care of Sakuya. Blue knew that the new comer wolf was upset. She could see that pain and anger in Sakuya's blue-gold eyes every time she looked her way. The young wolf had been through so much.

Once the moon was well in the sky everyone started to doze off in different places. Toboe and Sakuya stayed by the tree while the twins Natsuko and Akiko slept by each other a little ways away further away from the creek. Tsume picked a small shrub to sleep by but wasn't that far away from Natsuko. The oldest twin had long since returned his jacket but not without thanking him multiple times.

Kiba was alone, laying down beside a giant rock on a small hill that overlooked the others but no matter which way he tried to rest he couldn't fall asleep. He didn't know what the feeling was, but something inside hurt. At first he thought it was because of being away from Cheza for so long but after looking over the camp his eyes rested on Sakuya.

Even in the dark his golden piercing eyes could see the pained expression on her face and the tear stains on her cheeks as she rested against Toboe. Her jacket was still left on the ground, she was only wearing a white tank top and he could see that she was a bit cold but Toboe couldn't move to get it for her since he didn't want to wake her up.

But the look on her face was stuck in his mind, the pain, the anger. Was all the emotion directed at him? He didn't mean to make her upset but he didn't want to wait around any more -they have keep moving to get to the mountain before Darcia got there before them. But ever since they had started moving again he couldn't keep the issue away from the front of his mind. The Chosen. He knew so clearly that all the native villagers always called him the Chosen Wolf that would open up the pathway to Paradise. But what was she trying to say about her father? He was mentally kicking himself for cutting her off.

Trying to shake the clouded thoughts from his mind he rested his furry head down on his front paws and let out a sigh. There was do danger around anywhere and besides, Hige was on guard duty so he closed his eyes and tried to drift off into sleep hoping that no other flashback nightmares would enter his dreams.

o-o-o-o

Tossing and turning, Blue couldn't get to sleep for anything. Sighing, she sat up from her place by a lonely tree. Looking around, she saw that Hige was on lookout duty a little ways away from her by another larger tree.

Being careful of her shoulder that still stung a bit, Blue got up and quietly walked over to Hige. As she walked up to him, the brown haired guy turned his head and looked from the corner of his eye to see who it was. When he saw that it was Blue, his eyes widened and he turned around fully.

"Something wrong?" He asked, his face full of concern.

"I couldn't sleep." Blue whispered, looking down at her boots, not able to meet his gaze. "I thought I'd keep you company."

A smile appeared on Hige's face as he moved over for the black haired girl to sit down beside him. When she sat down, he wrapped an arm lightly around her waist. "Thanks Blue."

They sat there in silence for a while, just enjoying each other's company until Hige tried to start a conversation.

But it was harder than he thought when he couldn't come up with anything to say. Scratching the beck of his head, all he could come up with was, "Umm..."

Blue beat him to starting a conversation. "Do you think we'll get to Paradise?" She asked quietly, looking up at the many stars in the sky. "I just can't stop thinking about it since Sakuya was so upset about it earlier."

Hige looked over at the girl beside him. "Well yeah I'm sure we'll get there." He said, showing a reassuring smile. He felt the same way every since he saw Sakuya break down in Toboe's arms and he couldn't help wondering if everything was going to be ok.

Without looking away from the sky, Blue continued. "Do you think I'll be accepted by Paradise?"

"What do you mean?" Hige asked.

"Well since I'm only half wolf, do you think Cheza will let me through to Paradise?" Blue said, her black ears flattened a bit in sadness.

Hige wrapped his arm around her waist again, bringing her closer to him and letting her rest her head on his shoulder. "I'll make sure you'll pass through with us." He said and saw Blue look up at him and he looked down at her, locking eyes. "I promise you Blue." He seemed drawn by her beauty and slowly leaned closer to her."Hige... I..." Blue tried to get out but her heart was beating so fast that she couldn't breathe as she sucked in her breath.

"Blue," Hige whispered as his lips hovered over hers. "I care about you a lot."

He didn't know how, he didn't know why but ever since that day he first say her. Running away from those thugs and skidding to a stop right in front of them, her blue-black fur gleaming in the sun, her bright blue ocean eyes looking right at him. He was captured by her the very first moment he laid eyes on her. And ever since she started to travel with them she always stuck by his side and he started to fall for her even more. But he couldn't come up with a reason why he loved her so and in the truth - it didn't really matter. His way of thinking about it was that that was the way love worked.

All Blue could do was nod her head slightly. So much had been running through her mind. She had only been traveling with Hige and the others for about six months but in that period of time she started developing feelings for the brown timber wolf. Since that day she was being chased and he stuck up for her, everything just clicked. At first she could tell right away that he was all about getting girls but - oh it was so hard to put into the right words - she just knew and after a little chat with him she knew that he was for real. They had a few connecting moments here and there but she had always thought that it wouldn't be able to work out because of her bloodline. She thought that Hige wouldn't think of her that way because she was only half his kind. It would never leave her alone and it seemed to haunt her.

Hige, seemed to grow more concerned for her, reached up his other hand and placed it on her cheek, rubbing away the tears that she didn't even notice were falling down from her eyes.

"Did I do something wrong?" He asked, suddenly backing up and giving her some space.

"No, no." She said wiping her tears away quickly. "I just..." She cut herself off as she moved closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder again.

"You can tell me what's on your mind." Hige said, wiping her tears away with his thumb. He hated to she her so upset, it tore his heart.

"I just thought you wouldn't want to love me because I'm half dog." Blue said, trying to keep her breathing calm. Than it hit her that she said 'love'. Love? What about liking each other first? Why oh why did her mouth run off on her? She quickly sat up, pulling away from him a bit, scarred of what he was going to say next.

But then she felt his hand turn her chin, making her look at him and before she could even think of anything he softly caught her lips in a kiss. Her mind went blank and she didn't know what was going on but she loved the feel of his lips on hers. Almost forgetting about why she was so upset she moved closer to him and she felt Hige wrap his arms around her waist. He pulled her closer to him and deepened the kiss.

When they pulled away she still didn't know what was going on but a smile pulled its way through and she felt happier. Hige smiled back, happy to see that she wasn't sad anymore.

"Please don't think that at all Blue. I couldn't care less if you were all dog."

The words that Hige said warmed Blue's heart and she couldn't help but let tears fall again but this time they were tears of happiness. Her mind was at ease now for she knew that Hige and the rest had accepted her for who she was, not what was in her blood. She knew where she belonged now and she wouldn't want it any other way.

Hige pulled her into another warm hug, she loved the way she felt in his arms. She felt so safe and so loved. Blue hugged him back, burying her face in his shoulder. "I love you Hige." She whispered, knowing that her words would reach his ears.

Kissing her head, Hige held her tighter. "I love you too Blue."

o-o-o-o

The night was long, the moon moving across the sky as the stars sparkled. The forest was quiet except for the trickling sound of the small creek but other that that there was no wildlife noises.

But there was an odd feeling in the air, something uneasy floated around the sleeping wolf pack. It was like a black cloud hanging over them, bringing nothing but sadness. Even four of the eight wolves, Toboe, Sakuya, Hige and Blue had been brought together with love the air around everyone was still heavy. Hige and Blue sat together by the big tree, taking turns on outlook while the other took a nap. The cute couple, Sakuya and Toboe continued to sleep by the creek.

Everything was dark, quiet, sleeping. Looking over at her sister Natsuko could see that Akiko was sound asleep, sleeping on her side with her back to her twin. A small noise, a snap of a twig caught her attention. Emerald green eyes looked around the campsite, looking over at the long forgotten fire she saw a long grey figure walking up to creek a ways away from the sleeping Toboe and Sakuya. She knew who is was, the striking grey fur of the lone wolf Tsume. Raising to her paws she looked over at her sister once more and quietly headed after the grey wolf that she had come to develop a crush on.

He had tried for a long time to try and fall asleep but it was no use so he decided to get up and walk around for a while to think about the events that were taking place. He had first looked around at everyone else, Hige and Blue by the big tree, Toboe and Sakuya by the creek, Kiba by the one large boulder and the twins who weren't that far away from him. He saw that the younger sister, Akiko had long since fallen asleep but the older one, Natsuko was tossing and turning.

When he started on his little night time walk, he saw Natsuko's dark brown ears perk up but he continued on his way. After a while he saw that she had lifted her head and was following him with her eyes but he continued to look up at the stars, watching them sparkle in the blue-black sky. After when he started to walk over to the creek he then knew that she had gotten up to follow him.

"Tsume wait up." Natsuko whispered, trying to fix her long brown hair into a messy bun as she tried to catch up.

Hearing her voice call out to her again he had no choice but to stop and wait for her to catch up to him. He turned slightly and saw her run up to him. "Shouldn't you be sleeping?" Was all Tsume could come up with to say. He couldn't help but admire how beautiful she looked in the blue moonlight.

"I should say the same to you." She shot back, stepping closer to him. "But I couldn't help it, I can't fall asleep." She said with a shrug of her shoulders. She turned away from him for a moment and looked around at the area around them. "It's pretty here."

He couldn't come up with anything positive to say to her. Why was it so hard to talk to her? And it was only her that he had problems with, no one else. He felt so nervous, a feeling he had never felt before and it was foreign to him. His eyes followed her as she walked past him up to the creek. Without thinking he started to move along with her, standing beside her with his hands shoved in his pants pockets.

"Do you ever wonder what would happen when we find Cheza and get to Paradise?" The brown haired girl looked down at her reflection that showed her true form, her dark brown muzzle and ears standing out on her blond-brown fur that covered her face. She stared down at her own green eyes that looked back at her from the water.

"I didn't believe in Paradise." Tsume said as he saw Natsuko sit down on a nearby rock. "At least I didn't when I first met up with Hige and the others."

He could tell that she was upset about what was going on. Everyone was on edge about the issue, Sakuya had been crying in Toboe's arms and Blue was with Hige worrying about if she would be able to enter Paradise or not. All of the worrying about Paradise had almost broken the pack. He could tell that Sakuya had been angered by how Kiba had reacted to the song and when they started moving again after the conversation the air around everyone was so thick it was almost hard to breathe.

"Why? Why would you not believe in the only hope left for us?" She asked, picking up a blade of grass and playing with it between her fingers.

The question was so hard to answer. The words wouldn't form in his head to explain why he felt the way he did about Paradise. And on top of that he couldn't form the words of how he felt about the girl sitting in front of him.

She could tell that the question she had asked him was hard for him to answer. She didn't mean to hit to hard with her question and she wished she could take it back. That was the second question she had asked him since she had started traveling with the others that seemed to hurt him. Mentally kicking herself she wished that she would stop asking such personal questions.

If felt like she had two sides of her fighting over what she should do about the guy that was standing in front of her. The one, shy side of her was saying that she should just say she was sorry for asking such a question and then run back to her sister. But then there was the other side that was curious as to what made the lone wolf in front of her tick. She wanted to know what was going on in his head. She wanted to know everything about him.

"It's ok, you don't need to tell me right now if you don't want to." She suddenly sighed and got up to her feet and walked up to him. "But when you come up with the answer let me know." She flashed him a bright warm smile.

It shocked him how she was acting and all he could do was stand there as she placed a soft warm hand on his cheek. He looked down at her as she only came up to his shoulder but the look on her face turned to a serious expression. "Don't keep things inside for too long or you'll lose yourself." She whispered and sighed again. He could sense that she was going to pull away and leave.

His body went into an almost panic state. He didn't want her to leave his side. He loved the feel of her beside him, the feel of her hand on his face started to melt this stone heart. The feeling he was having every time she was close to him, he had never felt so warm and - dare he think it - happy before. Happy? Was he really feeling happiness for the first time in ages?

When he felt that she was going to pull away he lifted his one hand from his side and gently grabbed her wrist. He suddenly felt scared that if he held on to her too tight he would hurt her. He had past events were that had happened - a few of his human lackies got in his way. They locked eyes, emerald green clashing with silver-gold. Natsuko's heart was beating so fast, thundering in her eyes so loud that she was sure that Tsume could hear it too.

He still held her wrist and pulled her closer to him, as a reaction Natsuko placed her free hand on his chest. They just stood there, not moving a muscle. In the clear blue moonlight Tsume saw that Natsuko was blushing but she kept his gaze, not looking away or saying a peep. She just looked back up at him with somewhat of a smile on her face.

"Are you scared?" He whispered.

"Sacred of what?" She whispered back. "Of our mission or of you?" This time she inched closer to him. "Because I'm not scared of you."

Her answer gave him some piece of mind that she wasn't scared of him. He'd hate to ruin the beginning of some kind of relationship with her by making a wrong move.

"Why?" Her voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "Are you scared of me?" She asked and lifted herself onto her tippy toes. The shy part of her was panicking, saying that Tsume would never like her that way but the curious side was saying that it was now or never.

For the first time since was thrown from his pack Tsume felt like he belonged somewhere. He felt like being with Natsuko was the right thing to do. Even though they hadn't known each other for very long, it was clear from the beginning that there was something special between them.

"No I'm not scared of you." He answered back, wrapping his arm around her waist, pulling her even closer to him. "But if you say that you're not scared of me than why are you shaking?" He couldn't help but show a small smirk on his lips as she blushed even more. "But I'll hold you to what you said earlier. I'll come talk to you when I have your answer."

It was his turn to pull away. Natsuko could feel his arm slide away from her waist and he was about to let go of her wrist when she suddenly moved her hand away from his chest and placed it on his cheek. She lifted herself on tippy toes and caught his lips in a soft kiss.

His eyes widened in almost complete shock as she kissed him but he soon melted under her lips and kissed her back. He grabbed her waist again, pulling her right up to his body. He let go of her wrist and reached up to her hair, pulling out her hair elastic and letting her long brown hair fall down. Natsuko pulled her arms up and around his neck as Tsume deepened the kiss from being a soft kiss to a fiery one full of emotion.

Both of their minds were at ease, no more questions about if the other had the same feelings as the other. There was so more uneasiness between the two as they continued to kiss in the moonlight. It was Tsume who pulled away first. There was no words that needed to be spoken. A light breeze picked up, blowing stray pieces of Natsuko's hair in front of her face.

"Maybe we should head back now." She whispered, her arms still around his neck, his arms still around her waist. She suddenly saw doubt in his eyes. "It's ok, we won't tell anyone about this." She smiled up at him.

"Ok." He answered, giving her one last short kiss on the lips before they both let go of each other and started to quietly head back to their sleeping places. Natsuko found where she had left her sleeping sister, Akiko hadn't moved an inch since she had left. She watched as Tsume was about to head past her to his sleeping place a little ways from hers. He was about to pass her when she grabbed his hand and ran up to him.

"Aren't you going to say goodnight?" She joked, showing a big smile.

Tsume was shocked at first to have been jerked back when she tugged on his hand but he quickly regained himself. "Goodnight." He whispered and gave her a peck on the cheek. "Now go to sleep." He said and stood there as she walked back over to her sister and laid down, resting her head down on her paws. He then turned to his long forgotten sleeping place and laid down beside the shrub.

He let out as sigh as he got comfortable and took one last look around the rest of the camp to see that everyone else was sleeping. He stole one last glance as Natsuko and felt his lips curl into a small soft smile, the first in many years. What was this girl doing to him? He had never felt this way before and for the first time he allowed his mind to focus on her. As he let his head fall to rest on his paws his mind wandered and he wondered what the future would hold for this pack. And what the future had in store for the new couple.

* * *

Wolf's Rain © Bones Studio

Tell Me What The Rain Knows by AniuLonewolf


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